Raise your words not your voice – Oprah

Raise your words not your voice: Have you ever felt the need to shout to make your opinions heard? Maybe at team members, bosses, colleagues, vendors, or even those who violate traffic lights? In our daily lives, there are countless things that can irritate us, and we often wonder how to make things work in our favour.

The immediate response that comes to mind is venting out anger by shouting at the person who wronged us, hoping that they would understand our perspective. However, shouting is not an effective means of communication, and it may not get your point across any clearer. In fact, it might only aggravate the person further. It’s possible that if the person is introverted, they will keep the frustration to themselves, run it over their head a few more times, and feel bad about it.

Raise your words not your voice meaning

The question is, does shouting serve your purpose? You have hurt someone important, destroyed the relationship, and achieved nothing but ensuring they’ll never help you again. The work remains the same. Is it all necessary?

Raise your words, not your voice. It is rain that grows flowers, not thunders - Oprah Winfrey quotes
Raise your words, not your voice. It is rain that grows flowers, not thunders – Oprah Winfrey quotes

Shouting may be the immediate response, but it’s essential to consider what’s more important: getting the job done or shouting at someone. If your priority is the latter, then raising your voice is not the best solution. The damage has already happened, and it’s time to do a postmortem on it, accept the blame, and try to solve the problem better.

Quality of life and personality

As Oprah Winfrey once said, raising your voice is easy, but it’s not the easiest bit when it comes to the quality of your life and personality. That’s perhaps why so few people do it. It takes maturity, patience, and the ability to communicate effectively to get your point across without resorting to shouting.

In conclusion, while shouting may seem like a quick fix, it’s not a sustainable solution in the long run. It may harm your relationships and prevent you from achieving your goals. Instead, take a deep breath, calm down, and communicate effectively. Your relationships and your work will thank you for it.

12 thoughts on “Raise your words not your voice – Oprah”

  1. He he I completely with you on this Preethi :).. It’s probably never possible to understand someone completely . All we can do is just try an try and try once more .. And it’s definitely fascinating ! And probably the most exciting since everything keeps changing every single time :)

  2. Frankly, i don’t think any amount of experience can help us understand what people exactly mean…isn’t that what is fascinating about human behavior? :) It drives me crazy.. but its amazing as well. Do I sound like a nut? :P

  3. Thank you Preethi :).. It’s a breather to hear from you on a post. Am so glad that you like the posts, will keep them coming in the same gusto.

    So true Preethi, so often even I’ve seen people using it as a defense mechanism so that someone else shouldn’t shout at them. Y’day I was driving and right opp to me are a pair of guys coming in full speed in the wrong way. He looks at me , points his jan towards me and shouts, starts swearing. I didn’t even know how to react to that. I wanted to get down and slap him real hard. But then the moment passed, the whimsical feel of slapping him made me grin .. I guess it maybe a defense mechanism, similar to the tantrums you mentioned. I guess it does take a lot of experience to try and understand what people really mean !!!

  4. I like the way you think of simple day to day things and make an inspiring post out of it. nice post :) I agree with what you say. All that yelling ruins our day too…assuming we are not bothered about anyone else. But I do find that people use yelling and shouting as defense when they know they are wrong, or just to shut the other person from telling the truth or to just show they are in control or the more powerful person in the situation. I have seen people who not only shout but cry, throw tantrums, feign hysteria for the same purpose. For even simple day to day things.. sadly, it ruins the atmosphere, whether it is work or home. And it becomes a habit. And that kind of negativity can be contagious. But as you rightly said…instead of regretting our actions..its better to stay calm in the first place. :)

  5. Thank you Namrata :). He is one heck of a hero, I have always been fascinated every time I read about him.. I completely agree, a hollow yell is a sign of desperation and no one would even want to respond to that. Every voice is stronger only with the content and the persona behind :)

  6. This reminds me of the great martyr Bhagat Singh, he raised his voice in order to make the deaf listen. However, he also had raised his words. A hollow yell can bring no change.

  7. Agreed Alok! There is always an exception to the rule. I’m sure I can recall tons of occasions of shouting and I also recall feeling bad after it more times. The temporary relief has sometimes caused a greater damage and the effort taken to repair has been more than the voice itself :) ..

    But like you said, all humans here and making the mistakes is definitely mre than welcome as long as it doesn’t hurt :)

  8. I don’t think so that we need to shout to be heard, but sometimes we need to shout to let others hear it properly. Might be I am wrong but sometimes we human being lost our patience as well.

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