Wednesday 19 January 2011


I should have learnt by now...

Words hurt!

Having only yesterday written about correspondence sent in haste and then regretted, I have to own up to correspondence sent with careful consideration and then regretted even more. In my haste to help I've made things worse... Have you ever done that?? It's horrible! Oh, to retract it all and start again!

Having now reviewed what I originally wrote I doubt I could have phrased it any differently but what I didn't take into account was how it would be received... When we communicate with one another so much relies on the non-verbal signs like body language... Then on top of that there is intonation. The written word is so bald, pared down to the minimum. Bereft of gentle tone or caring gesture... It's so easily open to misinterpretation.

We are all sensitive souls, even those who appear hard as nails. In fact they are often the ones who have the softest cores. Its amazing the armour we develop over our lives and how easily those little darts of words sneak in...

The old adage is very true - "If you can't say it to their face, don't say it at all!"

Fortunately, however, there is hope...

Words heal too!

In fact there are some very simple words that heal situations quicker than others... like saying "I'm sorry" - and really meaning it

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