Today, we’re diving deep into a subject central to our individual and collective journeys: Meaning Language.

Wait, there’s a Meaning Language?

We all speak English, but we use English in very different ways. Take debate and persuasion, for instance. Debate is great for hashing out laws and regulations, while persuasion is the go-to for convincing someone that they absolutely need that new smartphone. But try debating with a customer about which car they should buy, and you’ll likely find out you don’t have a customer.

Meaning Language is different. It’s not about winning an argument or making a sale; it’s the language of personal experience and resonance. It’s the ‘music’ of communication.

Ghost in the Machine

Freudian Slips of the Tongue, also called parapraxis, are glitches in speech or physical action due to the interference of an unconscious subdued wish or internal train of thought.

Carl Jung and Franz Riklin decided to explore parapraxis further by experimenting with word association tests. They wanted to monitor how psychological responses affected physiological markers, like pulse and breathing rate, even measuring electrical skin responses. Their groundbreaking work revealed that our subconscious is pulling the strings.

The silver lining is that ‘who’ you ‘are’ has something to say, subtly interrupting. So remember, the next time you’re feeling tense or anxious, it’s likely your subconscious is sending you a telegram: “I’ve got something to say!”

Where is the Voice of Authenticity?

Jung’s word association experiments led to identifying and naming complexes and the Persona. Complexes are the emotional landmines in our psyche—touchy subjects we are unaware of or rather avoid—but blow up when triggered. Conversely, Jung said the Persona is a compromise between societal demands and how we'd like to appear instead of how we are. It’s not the real you; it’s more like your theatrical performer. 

Jung and Riklin’s work paved the way for modern tools like the EKG and the polygraph. The latter, known as a lie detector test. Despite its flaws, the polygraph shows we have an inner truth-seeking advocate who physically protests when silenced.

Modern-day research continues to shine a light on this ‘inner voice.’ Dan Siegel, a clinical professor of psychiatry at the UCLA School of Medicine, defines ‘resonance circuits’ as neural pathways in the brain involved in mindfulness and empathy. These circuits underlie our ability for self-awareness (mindfulness) and our awareness of others (empathy). Siegel uses the term ‘resonance’ to suggest that we seek a kind of attunement or harmonization, not just within oneself but with others.

Resonance

When talking, we don’t consciously choose each word; speech would be choppy and slow. When we speak, we start with an intention, maybe an image or story, and we start talking. We attempt to talk until we’ve conveyed our intent to ourselves and our audience (or until interrupted). We’ve all heard the term, “You got to get it all out.” So, when communicating with Meaning, we are attempting to attune and harmonize simultaneously—using language as a vehicle—to make or express what matters to us; hence, Meaning Language.

When we suppress our true selves, we distance ourselves from our growth and understanding. Speaking our truths, especially to others, is how we learn and evolve. While there's a growing focus on creating psychologically safe environments in organizations, it's crucial to first establish that safety within ourselves by discovering our authentic voice. Understanding your own inner landscape is key when navigating an organizational culture filled with defense mechanisms like jargon, persona, and complexes, which can deflect meaningful conversations, isolating and severing the life out of genuine motives.

Gobbledygook - Back to Business

An article in the Economist Magazine called “Why Businesses Use So Much Jargon - The Reasons behind Management Gobbledygook” points out that managers use jargon to establish their credentials. Unlike highly-specialized fields like medicine, where expertise is demonstrated through rigorous exams and practical training, the use of management language serves as a badge of qualification: If you can speak the language of management, you can appear qualified to rule. The article claims, “All this matters because the continued use of this language is a sign that the speaker is not thinking clearly. And if those in charge aren’t thinking clearly, that’s bad for the business.”

Hammer of Conformity

But, while Gobbledygook exists—and mimicking it is often a quick way you can get a promotion—it’s much more nuanced. Organizations benefit by developing models for scale and uniformity, which are excellent for developing repeatable business models. But when applied to humans, these can tip into a push for conformity, which can suppress Meaning, by definition. Conformity kills innovation and motivation and nails one foot of your potential to the floor. Ultimately, it will usher in a phase of stasis and decline within the organization.

For example, when the organizational focus shifts from a beginner’s mind, one of learning and growth, to execution, things usually go very well. It’s when execution isn’t balanced with continual change when we attempt to mitigate every risk that risk aversion and conformity start taking over the cultural dynamic. The emphasis is on employees who “drink the Kool Aid” by protecting the status quo instead of keeping up with market changes. When change agents are brought in, they speak a different language; like an auto-immune disorder, the conformity antibodies treat what’s healthy as a threat, and stasis is resumed despite overwhelming evidence.

As Abraham Maslow pointed out, put a golden hammer in someone’s hands, and everything will become a nail. When we stop wielding the tool effectively, and the tool starts hammering you.

Are You In?

The Quest for Meaning—is an inner journey, that goes beyond the pop-psychologly phrases. Navigating the Inner Journey involves depth where you encounter detours, experiences that feel like setbacks and land minds.

I've had my share of hiring, training, and working with professionals, and while, it’s not a journey everyone’s ready for - it can be incredibly liberating. .

Mining Meaning Language

The Essence Mining Method was designed as one approach that empowers Meaning at Work. It acts as a Rosetta Stone for Meaning. Tangible benefits from using the Essence Mining Method, as studied by a group of PhDs, show enhanced communication skills, innovative problem-solving, elevated leadership skills, increased emotional intelligence, resilience, and reduced stress—all leading to greater job satisfaction and service to the organization.

It turns out that embedded in your everyday speech is a lifeline to a more complete you. By examining your Meaning Language, you can hear your authentic voice, which was always with you, hidden in plain sound.

Erosion of Trust

Here’s this week’s stats on Trust:

Only 14% of us trust Big Business. Banks are a little better at 26% - who holds onto our resources? Church/Organized Religion doesn’t fare much better at 32%.

Small Business 65% and Science 64% can tip the teeter-totter positively.

“Right to the heart of the matter, Right to the beautiful part
Illusions are painfully shattered, Right where discovery starts
In the secret wells of emotion, Buried deep in our hearts.”

~Emotion Detector, Rush

What is Trust? 

In the dance of life, trust is the cardiovascular system of our emotional and social well-being, nourishing ourselves, our relationships, and our communities. This system balances our psyche, circulating the lifeblood of love, and the oxygen of understanding, and delivers nutrition-rich empathy, all operating silently in the background.

Like our cardiovascular systems, our trust systems must be tested, taxed, and cared for. Ignoring its maintenance can cause debilitating failures that send ripples of discord through our bodies, and a breach in trust can unsettle the delicate balance that sustains our connections.

Civilization and organizations run on trust. Like a well-conditioned body, trust reduces friction and makes everything work more smoothly. Without it, other systems (departments) experience a communication breakdown, resulting in low engagement and compounding problems that ‘stress’ the system.

Low trust is debilitating to the people experiencing it. When employees, clients, and stakeholders trust a company, they’re willing to invest their time, effort, and resources. A sense of well-being and engagement can become a multiplier for success, fueling a positive work culture and laying the groundwork for lasting success.

Let’s delve deeper into the nuances of trust—the unsung hero of every meaningful relationship—to understand how to cultivate, restore, and cherish this pivotal cornerstone of our lives.

Shadow Trust

Is there an often-overlooked aspect of trust? When trust crumbles, it doesn't just disappear; it transmutes into its shadow form—fear. Fear isn’t idle; it haunts and drains you nightly like a relentless vampire! It’s active and insidious, affecting everything from personal interactions to social structures. When trust is under threat, you’re not just neutral but vigilant against potential betrayals, emotionally, financially, or in other intangible and imaginary ways.

This shadow of trust doesn’t only cast its darkness outward; it also dims your internal landscape. Self-doubt creeps in, paralyzing decision-making and corroding self-worth. The community isn’t immune either; a collective lack of trust can fragment a society, eroding the social connection and acceptance we have for one another, and clogging the arteries of communication, making it ripe for arrest, conflict, and division.

But the most corrosive element is the feedback loop it creates. The absence of trust fuels the fear, and that fear, in turn, deepens the lack of trust. It's a dark loop, a tourniquet, that's only loosened by confronting and accepting the source of your fears head-on, understanding their origins. After all, if we don't acknowledge or engage the shadow side of trust, we risk becoming its perpetual prisoners, living lives of fear.

We cannot change anything until we accept it; condemnation does not liberate; it oppresses. ~Carl Jung

Disrupt your Trust

In a world where trust is often hailed as the be-all and end-all, intentionally disrupting it can seem taboo. But sometimes, our gut—tells us to shake things up, which is usually when we trust patterns that we shouldn’t. Disrupting our once-trusted beliefs, thoughts, and behaviors is not necessarily a one-way ticket to the dark side; it can benefit everyone involved, including yourself.

For instance, we sometimes trust relational models that aren’t working for us; if someone treats your boundaries like a punching bag, maybe it’s time to grab a psychological hammer and bust the place up because a remodel is needed. It’s a not-so-subtle ‘stop’ sign signaling that the status quo isn’t cutting it.

Similarly, if you’re stuck in the muck of codependency, a disruptive nudge serves both individuals who need to evolve into more independent beings. Sometimes, deep down we know these patterns we cling to need a little shake-up to align with the reality of who you really are, not who you wish you’d be.

So, to grow, disrupting trust can actually be a key player, a psychological renovation tool paving the way to a more authentic existence. Essentially, breaking trust in old limiting beliefs, while unsettling, and sometimes downright disturbing, is also the source of liberation from fear. Fear can actually be the lifeline providing an opportunity for a personal transformation.

Disrupting trust can be temporarily messy: Handle With Care. Seek a therapist if the mess is too big for you.

Is My Trust Problem an Inner Journey?

Trust is often thought of as something between you and others, but the underbelly of trust is deeply rooted in your inner landscape. Anywhere you look, when there are trust issues, a finger may be pointed at someone else, but guess how many point back at your heart?

“Ranting and pointing his finger at everything but his heart, we’ll miss him.” ~Eulogy by Tool

So, while it might seem like you’re building trust with other people, the real architect of trust is hanging out inside. It’s an internal journey toward understanding what parts of you aren’t trusted or accepted. So, while the currency of trust appears to be spent in the external world, the mint where it is forged is inside you, soul-searching to determine if you are willing to risk all of yourself to live. Fully.

Trust is one element of owning yourself. It’s about recognizing all of you and admitting your limitations and, yes, your shadow qualities; you'll likely find that your biggest fear is truly knowing yourself. Owning your talents and qualities and exercising them to explore your potential. Accepting the fact that people may not like you for it, but it’s ok, because it’s you. All of this starts with trusting your experience and resonances, to guide your thinking, particularly when it might feel unconventional.

Sowing the Seeds of…

So, we established that trust is an inside job, right? Now, how do you take the inner work and apply it to real-world relationships?

It’s difficult to overstate how transformative it is to really understand someone else. It’s not just about you; your willingness to understand can open a locked heart, which can open others to the flow in life that can be an opportunity for someone else’s self-acceptance. To be seen, felt, and heard is essential to being human, and by turning that key, you’re creating the space for reflection and insight, which can lead to reflective ah-ha moments, and iterative transformations. Seeking to understand another human being is a two-way street; it exposes quirks to each other and can help us become more accepting of our collective differences, realizing how similarly connected we can be, how the pieces fit in between our differences.