Mind Your Words

Jun 1, 2015 | Commentary

Day One.

We are curators of our lives, whether consciously or unconsciously. Our digital persona tells our individual stories as they unfold. If you take the time, regardless of how created it is, you can discern the root of a person simply by following them on social media from both what they talk about and what they leave out.

When I am to meet or have met someone, I generally go through their online persona, exploring Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Google+, About Me and any other platform I can find them on. In fact, I use Charlie App, which “combs through 100s of sources and automatically sends you a one-pager on everyone you’re going to meet with, before you see them.”

In the early days of Twitter, the number of times I heard “It’s only Twitter, stop being so serious” was enough to power a home during loadshedding or Dumsor or any other name for ‘lights off in Africa’.

Thoughts are boomerangs, returning with precision to their source. Choose wisely which ones you throw. – Author Unknown

Many brutally learned that the words you speak on social media do have the power to truly alter your life, and not always for the best. And yet, many continue to simply speak as if there isn’t anyone on the other side keeping score. Or trawling the internet to find out more.

What we speak often manifests. We submerge ourselves in negativity and complaint and bitterness and vitriol and it weaves its way into all aspects of our lives.

Whatever a person’s mind dwells on intensely and with firm resolve, that is exactly what he becomes. – Shankaracharya

This isn’t anything new. Many have spoken on being careful about what we speak. And many continue to discard the warnings to their detriment. It is serious. Think before you speak.

Just a thought.