All right. Well, good afternoon. Nice to be here. Good. Uh, good morning or good evening to those of you who are tuning in from other parts of the world. Um, yeah, it's a real pleasure to be here. I'm just curious how many, how many of you, uh, practice mindfulness? How many of you, whether so with the app or there's, okay.

Wow. Almost everyone. That's great. That's wonderful.

So the title of this book of mine is called Say What You.  and, um, I'd like to share with you some of the kind of key and most powerful teachings in the book that I've come to over the last 20 years, uh, of my practice, of both mindfulness and communication. And, um, I thought I would actually read to you, uh, just a few paragraphs from the beginning of.

Um, since some of what I have to say has been said, perhaps the best  in the book. So I just, I just want to read you the first few paragraphs of the introduction. Cause I think it really captures, um, the why. Like, why am I here? Why are all of us here looking at this topic? What we say matters. We've each felt the power that words have to.

Soothe or uplift us. Even one caring remark can make the difference between giving up and finding the strength to face life's challenges. We each also know something of the great harm that can be inflicted through speech. Sharp words laced with anger or cruelty can break a relationship and burn for years.

Language can be used to manipul. And coerce on a mass scale to fuel fear, war oppression, or to advance political agendas of genocide or terror. Few things so powerful are also so commonplace words are woven into the very fabric of our lives. Your first love, your first job, your last goodbye to someone you.

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