It’s always the season for a kind word

We should never underestimate the power of the tongue. Sticks and stones aside, your words matter. Basically, each time you open your mouth, you have a decision to make. Will I speak to encourage, engage and uplift or will the words I speak discourage, disengage and deflate?

We all get to make this choice. Every single time. When our own circumstances aren’t flash but we choose to encourage or uplift someone else . . . well, there’s power in that.

A lot of us have been thrust into holiday mode – that’s a short, sharp shift into 24/7 ‘‘kids in our face’’ territory.

The wee darlings are displaying a temperament-testing trio of beyond tired, beyond excited and beyond ‘‘What can I do now . . . ?’’ Aargh!

Friendly reminder: you are the adult. You get to choose what you say to them and how you say it. Choose your words well and the atmosphere in your home will shift a whole lot quicker.

Speaking out, for no other reason than to change a mood or spread a little light, stretches far outside the confines of your own living room.

It’s the friendly hello you choose to give to the person working in the supermarket. The please and thank you to, well, everyone really. The older lady or gent you greet down the street – reminding them they are not invisible after all.

An offer to help the parent who looks even more frazzled than you (we’re out there, believe me) or the ‘‘come for a cuppa’’ to the new parent on the block.

It’s resisting the urge to gossip. News flash: you don’t have to judge or criticise anyone else’s parenting, lifestyle, or spending choices. Just for once maybe don’t offer an opinion unless you are asked for it. Imagine.

And yes, some of us do find this all much easier to do than others.

Life experiences and circumstances will impact our thoughts, therefore our words, quite differently.

If speaking life into someone’s day proves too big an ask for you, then perhaps start speaking life into your own.

Change the way you speak to yourself about yourself. Are you too busy wallowing in self-pity to be bothered? No-one gives a sh.. about me and all that jazz?

Heads up, every single person you meet is going through their own stuff.

Every single one of us. Period.

You may never ‘‘feel’’ like it but if everyone waited until they felt like saying something nice or for the ‘‘perfect’’ moment to offer a kind word or gesture, it’d never happen.

Be intentional. The buzz you’ll get from spreading some cheer (geez, even a smile) will brighten your day as much as anyone’s. The ripple effect would be something else, too.

Showing yourself and your kids that, in spite of your circumstances, you can chuck out a smiling, genuine ‘‘Have a great day!’’

What a legend.

’Tis always the season for a kind word.