Tuesday, April 16, 2013

How is your spirit today?

There are many standard greetings, goodbyes, and other well-worn phrases that pervade language. Over time, the popularity of any phrase waxes and wanes (and once in a rare while, even waxes again). A dedicated linguist can tell you just when a certain conversation took place historically, based upon the phrases employed.
It's time to re-think one of our most well-worn chestnuts - "What did you do today?" Even though we toss off replies to this question almost reflexively, it's time to consider the subconscious process we all go through when confronted with "what did you do today?" In the micro-seconds it takes us to process these things, this is what cycles through the brain..."I don't know. What was i SUPPOSED to do? What did i EXPECT myself to do? What did YOU expect me to do? What did society, my parents, and the ghost of Don Rickles expect me to do? Shit, i'd better come up with something good."
And then presto, in less time than it takes to say "presto", we roll out an answer that will hopefully make our interrogater feel about us the way we want them to feel.
The prevalence of this phrase could only arise in a society that measures people by doing, not being. When we meet someone, we tend to be much more interested in what they've done, what they do, and what they intend to do, than the kind of person they are.
That's an awful lot of weight to be carried by a phrase that passes as a standard greeting.
So let's chuck "what did you do today" onto the scrapheap where it belongs. Let's replace it with something more caring and comforting. What, you know somebody, ANYBODY, who couldn't use more comforting?
Let's replace it with "How's your spirit today?"
Let that wash over your psyche. Doesn't it feel peaceful? Doesn't it feel inviting? Nobody's asking you to justify your life. Nobody's implying that you might not measure up. It feels like the interrogater maybe, just maybe, really wants to know how you are.
So...
How IS your spirit today?

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