Persona

I often listen to different types of speakers - motivational speakers, preachers, teachers, et al. I listen not only to what they are saying but also to what they are not saying. I wondered once why the same statement said by one speaker uttered by another means differently, registers with more depth, hits home a little more by more than just a sliver.

For instance, I have a mentor who tells me to read my book pretty much in the same way the next professor does, tells me to lock up to have quiet moments to recoup & re-charge, and tells me to my face what is possibly wrong with me at the time, hitting bull's eye about the deed but never demeaning the doer. And it dawns on me that the difference is the life beneath the words.

If that mentor tells me to read a book, she has read two or three. If she tells me to lock up for quiet moments, she has basked in the stillness of quietude. If she tells me what is wrong, it is because she has been that way herself and overcome.

That is why some speakers hit home. They live the lives they preach.