In a Language without a Voice

“Linguists say that language comes after music
and we sang nonsense syllables

before we invented a rational speech
to order our days.”

~ Jim Harrison

Hear Out, Notice RestDaron LarsonMay 11, 2019Jim Harrison, poetry, horses, nature, language, uncertainty, understanding, communication, silenceComment

Speechless

When I first started practicing mindfulness, I saw internal words — aka verbal thoughts — as my opponents. Like most people, I thought the point was to not think. When verbal thoughts were present, I was obviously not. Start over. Try harder.

There's just one problem with this approach. It is normal for the mind to think in words.

A Kind of Antenna for Other People

"I think one of my gifts is also one of my weaknesses. Which is, I have a kind of antenna for other people. My friends and my producers might disagree with me about this, but I think an antenna that picks up on what other people are feeling. But there's something good and bad about that."

~ Terry Gross

Daron LarsonMay 23, 2015Marc Maron, Terry Gross, conversation, feelings, self/other, Fresh Air, BAM, communication, perception, theory of mind, emotions, projectionComment

Our Desire to Transcend Isolation

"Creation seems to come out of imperfection. It seems to come out of a striving and a frustration. And this is where I think language came from."

No Less Real

"So much of what we live goes on inside–"

Daron LarsonNovember 1, 2014Dana Gioia, grief, death, memory, communication, Day of the Dead, secrecy, yearning, self/other, riskComment

They Would Not Understand

"We are surrounded at every instant
by sights that ought to strike the sane
unbenumbed person tongue-tied, mute
with gratitude and terror. However,

The Spaces between Words

Daron LarsonJune 22, 2014Roger Housden, Su Blackwell, art, communication, connection, language, magic, poetryComment

It's Not Language that Governs the Connection Between People

Daron LarsonDecember 24, 2013Asghar Farhadi, Iran, KCRW, communication, connection, culture, directors, film, language, translationComment

Different from the Real Experience

Daron LarsonOctober 25, 2012Germaine Koh, Phillip Moffitt, clarity, communication, connection, narrative, reality, story, storytellingComment

The Way Our Lives Speak

Daron LarsonSeptember 18, 2012Parker Palmer, communication, connection, language, mind-body, silence, writingComment

The Art of Letting Pass

Daron LarsonAugust 18, 2012Stephen Dunn, communication, conflict, equanimity, home, mundane, poetry, relationshipsComment

Cultivating Well-Adjusted Humans

Daron LarsonJuly 31, 2012childhood, children, communication, education, growing up, learning, observationsComment

Searching Inside Yourself

"In designing Search Inside Yourself, a popular course at Google, early Google engineer and personal growth pioneer Chade-Meng Tan (Meng) has distilled emotional intelligence into a set of practical and proven tools and skills that anyone can learn and develop."