The Paintbrush called 'Words'

Chapter 7 of my book The Art of Momentum discusses the famous quote by Mozart that says - "Music is not in the notes, but in the silence between".

What that chapter in the book discusses is centred on the theme - "Music is not experienced in our ears, but in our minds".

Each note, each beat, every melody and harmony blooms within the mind, weaving sensations that ripple through the soul. They stir emotions—gentle or fierce—like whispers of wind or crashing waves, and paint vivid landscapes in the imagination.

The mind, ever the artist, gathers these fleeting impressions, assembling them into a holographic masterpiece, vibrant and alive. Each musical element leaves its mark, crafting a mosaic of feelings and visions, where sound is not merely heard but transformed into an intimate, multi-dimensional experience, both fleeting and eternal.

When the mind is overwhelmed with a relentless cascade of musical elements, each rushing in before the last can settle, it becomes a storm of sound without shape. Without the gentle pauses to reflect, the mind cannot gather the fragments into something whole.

The 'silence between the notes' is where the mind can make sense of what it experiences.

The silence between the notes is not an absence but a realm of possibility, a quiet sanctuary where the mind lingers to savour what it has just encountered. It is in this fleeting stillness that the echoes of melody settle, allowing emotions to unfurl and meaning to take shape.

This applies to all forms of expression, articulation and communication.

More importantly, this applies to words as well.

Communication is in the silence between the words

We have been revisiting the idea that we wield words as tools to ferry information from one mind to another, or we use words as outbursts of emotions we can no longer hold within.

We create our sentences, casting them into the world with the expectation that once heard, they will be acted upon the way we wish them to be acted upon.

Yet, when those words fall short of their mark, when actions stray from the path we envisioned, we feel an almost primal sense of betrayal. It seems unfair, even cruel, that the bridges we build with language might not lead where we want them to.

We often overlook the quiet irony of our expectations, forgetting how rarely we act on mere information or requests ourselves.

Yet, we demand that others transform raw data into action, while we remain still until something deeper takes root within us.

We often use words as if it's the force of the words that would get others into action. When a communication seems not to evoke what we expect out of it, we increase the quantity and the force of the words being shelled out.

What we fail to nail down is that it's not our words that people respond to.

People respond to the emotions and imageries our words evoke in them.

People can only get in touch with their emotions and imageries in the space and stillness between the barrage of words.

People respond not to words, but to the silence between the words.

What gives Words their power

Words are extremely powerful. We are well aware of the power that words carry.

We are acutely attuned to the power of words, especially in their darker form, when they become tools of destruction. We have felt their sting as both the recipient and the perpetrator, each time the sharp edge of a careless phrase slices through the fragile armour of the soul.

The words that fall like heavy stones, striking with precision, leaving echoes that linger long after the sound has faded.

There is a certain brutality in the bluntness of a word, like a hammer striking stone, unrefined, ruthless, tearing through the veneer of calm with no thought of consequence.

And yet, there is also a cruel finesse in words that cut with surgical precision, incisive, deliberate - designed to wound, to expose, to tear apart what we thought was whole.

In the realm of destructive communication, we are aware of the weight of each word, how it can land with the force of a strike, how it can stir up a storm of emotions, unsettle the ground beneath someone’s feet.

In the chaos of destructive communication, the words exchanged are not vessels of meaning, but missiles launched with a single, bitter intent—to wound, to insult, to tear apart. We do not pause to understand the depth or exact meaning of the cuss words that may be hurled, nor do we seek clarity in the sarcasm or curses that lace the air.

It is not the what but the how that matters—how the words are aimed, how they are meant to strike. It’s a primal exchange, a battle where meaning is irrelevant, and only the wound left in the wake of those words matters.

Whether it's a propagandist stirring a crowd, fanning the flames of rage, or two individuals locked in a battle of insults, every moment is saturated with the sheer power of unrestrained feeling. The words are weapons that explode, each phrase painted with vivid, searing imagery meant to cut deep and leave a scar.

The entire success of destructive communication can be ascribed to two important factors - emotions and imagery.

A constructive communication, too, can be made impactful with the right uses of emotions and imagery.

Every communication, when woven with the right threads of emotion and imagery, can leave an indelible mark on the heart. That's what a good song, a good story, a good movie, a good painting does to us. They capture our souls because they speak to us with a depth, we cannot always name.

They move us, stir something within, because they are more than just words or colours—they are the alchemy of emotion and thought, crafted with care, with understanding of the delicate dance between intention and impact. In their beauty lies the power to resonate, to heal, to transform.

A good song, a good story, a good movie, a good painting—they don’t just speak to us; they reach us.

They are more than just the sum of their parts; they are carefully crafted symphonies of thought and feeling, woven together with an artistry that makes us feel as if we’ve touched something deeper than the surface.

Yet, in our day-to-day communication, we often shy away from such deliberate creation. We fear the enormity of it, the precision it demands.

To create requires more than just expression; it demands a deep, quiet understanding of the nuances of human emotion, an ability to shape our feelings, revealing something extraordinary from the raw material within.

But, perhaps out of fear of inadequacy or the weight of expectation, we choose the easier path— laying the entire responsibility of the communication on the recipients.

We find it much easier to be “bluntly honest” and “totally straightforward” casting aside any sense of responsibility for our words. We speak what crosses our minds, often without awareness of the impact of each individual word and of the overall message, expecting the sheer force of our expression to make an impression.

And, we wonder why the message never lands quite right, why our words fall flat.

What we essentially miss out in constructive communication is the realization of how words translate to emotions and imageries, and how our internal emotions and imageries translate to actions.

We lose sight of the invisible thread that links words to the raw pulse of emotions, and emotions to the vivid imageries that dance within us.

We do not need to be a poet or possess a literary or oratorial proficiency in order to create an impactful conversation. Communication is not the same as expression and eloquence.

There is no single formula or algorithm for successful communication. Communication is a much complex, dynamic, multi-dimensional, multi-faceted phenomena and provides countless doors of entrance.

What is required is not a strategy, but an awareness to the real-time elements involved in the communication.

How do you begin to use words as a paintbrush?

The best place to start understanding it is to start gaining an awareness of the words that use, ways in which we use them, and try to tap into what emotions and imagery they create in us, and in others.

Probably, the first awareness it might bring is that we use words in the most dead, inert and sterile ways. The way we use words render them as lifeless objects that we are passing on to others. Since our primary effort in almost all our communication is to pass an information, most of what we say do not evoke absolutely any emotion or imagery at all.

As an example, a lot of what we convey is done through a prolific usage of adjectives and adverbs.

We are often so intertwined in our beliefs and judgements of others, and so quick in categorizing and classifying everything and everyone into boxed compartments, that what we say often represents something that is very static, solid and rigid.

These do not invoke any emotions or imageries of their own, leaving the field entirely open to the recipient to be triggered entirely by their own past memories and associations.

An intense, well-directed, well-enacted emotional scene in a movie generates an almost uniform reaction from a wide range of audience. The stimulus has a uniform impact in its own might.

On the contrary, a scene that doesn't have an impact of its own would let the viewer's mind to drift amok his own repertoire of in-built emotions and imageries, drawing from their own past beliefs, prejudices, memories and other mental and emotional associations.

That's what most of our communication ends up as. Because of the inherent dead, inert and sterile nature of the words and expressions we use, most of what we communicate fail to arouse any emotions or imageries of their own, leaving the recipient to their own inner disarray triggered by all sorts of memories and other associations, taking them far away from where we intended them to go.

A communication is more alive when it comes across as an unfolding - a sequence of actions and events.

It's easier for us to visualize an action or an event. Actions are far more potent in triggering emotions.

While a lot of our destructive communication is laced by strong, powerful, emphatic dark brush-strokes, when it comes to constructive communication, we tend to use our words like neat, cute, pretty cursive writing, which might be impressive but fails to create much of an impact.

Words need to be used like the strokes of a paintbrush, that do not just "convey" but leaves strong, bold, emphatic marks in the consciousness of the recipients of our communication.

While each brush stroke makes an impact, care needs to be taken to ensure that the brush strokes are executed in a way that steers others' minds into the direction of an emotional destination that we intend to lead them to.

Our words need to reach to those emotional destinations first and create impactful imageries, before we can think about leading our audience to a certain destination in terms of a response, reaction or action.

What emotions and imagery are you generating right now?

A great place to start this exploration is to start getting aware of what are we painting through our words, if at all?

It is easier to try this out with written communication, and a retrospective analysis of communication instances from the past. Learning is most effective when carried out without too much at stake.

As we get used to being aware, we may be able to do it for upcoming communication instances or an ongoing conversation.

We are not yet discussing how to make it right. We are just beginning to get aware of how things occur right now.

It wouldn't be surprising to discover that much of our verbal output either creates no such brushstrokes or when they do, they paint a picture quite incongruent with what would be required to drive someone in action.

A major bottleneck also arises due to our misconstrued notions of how emotions translate to actions.

For example, there's a predominant belief that if we are able to impress someone sufficiently, it takes them closer to them taking action we seek out of them.

What we often ignore is the fact that "making an impression" is not the same as "making an impact".

An impression is like a ripple - visible and noticeable but temporary. An impact is like a rock shaping a riverbed - profound and enduring.

What do you do when you are sufficiently impressed by someone? Do you indulge every single communication that impresses you?

When we are impressed by someone, we probably wish them well, pray for them, refer them to others who might of help, but not necessarily take the action that they expect us to take. Being impressed doesn't always lead us to actions.

"Impressed" is a very lukewarm emotion. Of course, when amplified to something intense like "obsessed", then the desired action is much more likely to transpire.

The right usage of words requires from us to expand our vocabulary of the emotional spectrum, to be able to distinguish finder shades of emotions and understand how each such distinct shade of emotion leads to a certain action or inaction.

What is the underlying secret for being effective at using words to generate emotions and imageries?

How can we learn to use words as a paintbrush that creates the imageries on the canvas of others' minds?

Hint : Using words loaded with emotions is the least effective way to do that.

References:

The Art of Momentum, https://www.amazon.in/Musings-ReInvent-Mind-Vol-II-ebook/dp/B0BL3VQMH6

(c) ReInvent Software Solutions. All Rights Reserved. 2024.

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