The meanings of the words you use collectively shape the lens through which you perceive the world and yourself.
Transform those meanings, and you transform both your perception of yourself and of the world.
Power is a neutral value.
Love without power is anemic, as Martin Luther King Jr pointed out (and power without love is tyranny).
You cannot protect what you love if you do not have power.
You sure as hell can’t change the world.
We *cannot* fall into the trap of accepting a very narrow, top-down, command-and-control definition as the essential nature of ‘power’, to the point where we dismiss the subject altogether because it is distasteful to us.
Justine Musk, Darling, It is Time to Be Powerful
In this way, reflecting on the meanings of the words people use can reveal where they are on their growth and development journey.
What does belonging mean to you?
Brené Brown inquired and transformed the meaning of the word.
What does leadership mean to you?
The future of work inquired and transformed its meaning.
What words in your life feel so constrained that they are limiting you?
How might you transform the meanings of those words?