Lip service

Yes, that's pollen.

I love that scene in Annie Hall with the subtitles. How adorable are the young Woody, dressed in white and the young Diane in her iconic tie and baggy pants, flirting, sussing each other out? It's a sweet scene.

I've been thinking about it lately, the disconnect between what people think and what comes out of their mouths. Is that poetry? I guess it can be, as it is in the scene from Annie Hall.

Often, though, the mouth opens, the vocal chords leap into action, words come out, but the words are empty, mean, or do more to obscure than further true communication.

Yeah, I'm still fussing over what that guy said on Facebook about my neighborhood. Perhaps I should have responded to his ignorance - maybe if I had I wouldn't still be thinking about it. Maybe.

I take umbrage when anyone disses my 'hood. I rail against those who assume that every citizen of the District is involved in the shenanigans ongoing down the street within the Capitol. So there's that, but too I get worked up when people entrench themselves, at all costs, in whatever position they've taken.

It's not fair to point the finger at that ignorant guy on Facebook. I do it, too. In spite of how precious curiosity and openness are to me, I remember only too vividly how many times I've rejected an idea only because thinking about it would take energy or perhaps because considering a different point of view might make me uncomfortable. I try not to become entrenched, but it happens.

However I'm resolved to let go of that one silly incident, and instead to pay more attention to what comes out of my mouth (the only mouth I can control, after all). I'm trying to speak mindfully these days, to consider what I hope to accomplish by speaking, what I truly wish to convey before talking.

It's really hard!

One of my favorite affirmations is, I say what I mean and I mean what I say. I intend to take that practice to a deeper level. Wish me luck.