• Home
  • Contact
  • (802) 258-8182
  • Login

Justice Coaching Center Logo

We coach executives through isolation and vulnerability challenges.

We teach professionals how to coach and support their colleagues.

We coach leadership teams to co-create the organizations they aspire to lead.

  • Coaching People
    • Leadership Coaching
    • Team Coaching
    • Individual Coaching
  • Consulting
    • Assessment for Hiring and Succession
    • Talent Development
    • Strategic and Tactical Planning
    • Coach Training and Certification
  • Justice Systems
    • Assessment and Evaluation
    • Caseflow and System Management
    • Education, Training, and Coaching
  • Coaching Corner Blog
  • Our Resources
    • Our Philosophy
    • Coaches / Consultants
    • Our Business Alliances
    • Testimonials
  • Our Services
    • Resiliency Coach Training
    • Communities Collaborating
  • Home
  • Coaching Corner Blog
  • I Hate Golf !@#!!

Words Matter

  • Jan Bouch
  • April 25, 2019

Simply put, words do matter. In the words of the late Dr. Judith Glaser, “Words create Worlds.”

Words used by world leaders can generate emotional threats or fears producing higher levels of cortisol leading to our need to protect and run from a threat. Conversations that are “We” centric, on the other hand, are those designed to connect us, activate our brain’s executive function and position us to listen at a deeper level.

In a 2015 Washington Monthly article by Nancy LeTourneau, she references the differences individual (“I” centric) and collective (“We” centric) words as the focus of our democracy. The Preamble to the Constitution is created through “We the People.” It is the people who are sovereign. 

(https://constitutioncenter.org/interactive-constitution/preamble/giving-meaning-to-the-preamble-by-erwin-chemerinsky/interp/37)

I’ve been thinking about words – both the intent and impact. Are the words used in our conversations, and those of our leaders, intending to active cortisol and send us running to take cover, or are they aiming to activate oxytocin and generate trust and positivity. When you read the words below, notice how you feel as you read them.

In the April 1st edition of The New Yorker, there is a disturbing article titled Southern Strategy by Jon Lee Anderson. For those of us with a passion for democracy and the rule of law, this article is discomforting at multiple levels. According to Anderson, Jair Bolsonaro, President of Brazil was elected on promises to end crime, right the economy, and “make Brazil great.” Bosonaro has spent his career offending women, black people, environmentalists, and gays. “I would be incapable of loving a homosexual son,” he has said.” “I would prefer that my son dies in an accident than show up with some guy with a mustache.” As a national legislator, he declared one political rival, Maria do Rosario, “not worth raping.”

Although Trump did not attend Bolsonaro’s inauguration, he tweeted his solidarity: “The USA is with you!” [1]

So, just for this next week, I’m challenging you to pay attention to the words you use and those you hear. Where and how do the words activate in your body? I’d love you to share what you learn about yourself through this intentional and mindful challenge. 

                         Conversations are multidimensional, not linear.

 

 

[1]The New Yorker, April 1, 2019, P.19

Accountability Coaching People: Leadership Coaching People: Team Coaching People: Individual Purpose and Vision Development Collaboration
  • Share
  • Tweet
  • Share
  • Share
 

Ready to Get Started? Contact Justice Coaching Center

Please complete all required fields!

Please enter your name

Please enter your email

Invalid Input

Invalid Input

{Comment:caption}
{Comment:body}{Comment:validation}

{Comment:description}

Recent Blogs

  • Be Kind and VOTE Sep, 2021
  • Resiliency Coach Training Dec, 2020
  • ICF Accreditation for our Resiliency Training Program Jul, 2020
  • In the Time of Tumult May, 2020
  • Assumptions! Mar, 2020
  • Gratitude Dec, 2019

Filter Articles By Topic

Accountability Coaching People: Individual Coaching People: Leadership Coaching People: Team Consulting: Talent Development Decision-Making Development Goal Achievement Justice Systems: Evaluation Purpose and Vision

Justice Coaching Center Logo

We believe that individuals can examine their thoughts and actions; we have confidence that individuals are capable of change; we believe that we all want to be the best we can be, regardless of the challenges. We trust in the human spirit and our inherent goodness. We are the Justice Coaching Center. 

 
 
 
 

STAY INFORMED

Sign up here to receive the latest from The Coaching Corner Blog directly in your email.
Please wait
Try again

Let's Be in Touch

Justice Coaching Center
7588 Froman Ave.
Boise, ID 83714

(802) 258-8182  |  Jan C. Bouch
(802) 258-8181  |  Stephen Bouch
Contact Us

 

Our Business Alliances

The Justice Management Institute Aha Insight

Vital Leadership is a Business Alliance of the Justice Coaching Center

 
Back to top