Shadowing Practice: become ARTICULATE and SPEAK SMARTLY - effective communication 101 - Learn English Speaking with Video

So thinking fast and talking smart in conversations

while also saying exactly what you mean and how you feel so that people listen to you.

This is a skill that actually not a lot of people have.

So when you do have it, you will be ahead of the game.

And then it becomes magical when you inject your own personality into it.

The human voice is such a powerful sound, perhaps even the most powerful sound in the world.

So imagine what you can do if we become good at using our voices to get our points across.

Becoming more articulate with the way that you express yourself will help you stay more present, seem more credible, your words will hold more power,

and you'll be able to control your emotions more so that you won't feel overwhelmed and struggle to express yourself.

In fact, you don't even need to use big words in your conversations to get your points across, and that is the true beauty of effective communication.

The best communicators, they use simple and effective language so that absolutely everyone knows what you're talking about.

And I'm going to share with you the best habits to pick up, the things that you should avoid doing, as well as techniques to improve your impromptu speaking,

sounding smarter and expressing your personality at the same time, so that people are drawn to you and the things that you have to say.

So I'm also going to be showing you some specific exercises

and things that you can do to show your personality more through your words.

But just so you know, your brain is absolutely capable of processing things very quickly when you're talking fast.

You might even notice this when you're in a different state, Like for example, when you're nervous and anxious or when you're jacked up on coffee.

You might find yourself talking faster, thinking faster, or you might even just get so nervous that you lose your thoughts completely, your mind goes blank and words just flow out of your mouth,

maybe without even going through your brain.

So these are just the different types of states that you need to be aware of, but you can absolutely channel the correct kinds of energy that you want when you're talking to someone and control your outcome.

Because this truly is all about controlling your state of mind, but how can we do that?

So before we get into the techniques, hi my name is Mei and welcome to my channel.

So I'm here to help you achieve your best self mentally, physically, spiritually.

So if you want to become better and join me on this journey of self-improvement, subscribe to my channel and like my video if you like my vibe.

And as always a huge shout out to my patrons, my community on discord, as well as all of you in the comment section sharing your opinions,

liking and watching this video or even coming back to watch new videos from me.

I really appreciate you guys.

I just think it's so amazing how we're all growing together

and it's really exciting for me to see and I'm grateful to you all every single day.

So thank you.

And if you want a place to practice your communication skills, you can join my communities.

So let's talk about how to think faster and sound smarter and wittier as we speak.

So first of all, we need to set the correct kinds of expectations

when we pick up skill sets like learning communication skills, for example, because I know that a lot of us work very hard to achieve the outcomes that we desire.

And so we end up expecting a lot out of ourselves and when we do too much of that, we're actually kind of setting ourselves up for failure.

So try and be kinder to yourself.

This is how you can face setbacks and not fail.

For many people, English might not even be our first language, even though we think and speak much quicker in our mother tongue.

Or maybe we think that people just aren't going to understand us because we're still learning a new language.

And learning language is really difficult.

Like I tried to learn French, Italian, Spanish all at the same time because I thought, you know what?

Because they're Latin-based languages, they're all somewhat related, I can swing it and I was so wrong.

Even though communication can be simple, language can be so complex.

So learn to empower yourself constantly because you're fully capable of thinking fast

and you are truly smarter than you think you are and you give yourself credit for like think about it.

So pretend that your life is like a video game for a second.

Your brain might be at level eight, but your language skills might be at level five.

So you need to allow the skills

that you're working on to catch up to you through practicing it and not feeling too bad about it.

Because when When we're feeling really bad about ourselves, that can add as an additional layer to anxiety and nervousness and fear of the unknown.

So in order to improve, you need to make sure that these words become more available to you.

So what this means is you got to keep using these skills,

keep consuming new knowledge and immerse yourself in as much of it as possible every step of the way.

Keep believing in yourself and affirming that you can get absolutely better at it and express yourself intelligently.

And this is so that when you finally learn and you absorb all these words, you absorb the knowledge and all of the wisdom, and suddenly and surely one day, things are going to click for you

and words are going to just flow out of your brain and become more available to you.

This is exactly like leveling up in the game as you gain more experience

so you keep unlocking new words and new ways to express yourself.

If you keep doing this, it will happen for you eventually.

You just need to give yourself the chance to believe in yourself.

You have this thing called neuroplasticity and what this means is that every thought, every feeling, and every single action that we have,

it triggers thousands and thousands of neurons in your head which then will join together and form new networks.

So the more you repeat certain patterns, the more automatic outcomes will be and so

that you also interrupt certain kinds of patterns

that you don't want like for example bad habits and the more we interrupt bad habits, the more it goes away.

And the more we engage in certain types of thoughts or feelings or action, the more we strengthen those neural networks that are associated with those thoughts,

feelings, and actions so that the signals

that your brain is sending outwards can be fired quicker and quicker until eventually the signals are processed instantly.

This is a really powerful concept that can be applied to anything that you set your mind to.

Whether you want more discipline or you want to learn better ways to manage your stress levels, you can rely on your brain's natural ability as well as its neuroplasticity to heal

and process your thoughts to get whatever you desire.

And the beauty of this is it just gets easier

and easier every time that you do it until one day you don't even need to think about it.

You're just doing it.

So you need to keep reinforcing it constantly whether it's through techniques like telling yourself affirmations,

affirmations as in the same positive things that you tell yourself every single day.

And by the way this can also apply to the opposite negative things

if you keep telling yourself I'm sad like guess what's gonna to happen.

Or you can visualize it in your imagination

or putting it in practice by putting yourself in the kind of situations where you talk to people

so that you can practice your communication skills.

I have to say that I learned a lot about interacting with people when I had customer service jobs.

It was essential for me to know how to handle situations involving people.

And honestly, through these types of jobs, I was able to become myself more and more when I talk.

I was able to do things like crack jokes

and show my personality while at the same time solving issues

and handling other people's emotions

and I was able to do all of these things with ease

but I also have to say that eventually

when I took on a more introverted job and I left

that sort of customer service environment that yeah I kind of lost a bit of

that ability as I stopped practicing it so it's truly like a muscle

but perhaps before you even want to put yourself in more social situations you might want to just try

and rewire your brain first as well as your belief system first this is just

so that you get more comfortable with yourself before you put yourself out there

So I started this new habit every morning to help me visualize new goals and new beliefs that I want to train, where I started talking to this app called Astra to reinforce my beliefs.

And I can't even emphasize to you guys how important this shift was for me, because before, I used to scroll on Instagram the first thing I wake up every morning.

But now I deliberately switch over to talking to this app

instead for 10 minutes a day before I even get out of bed.

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I feel better, I feel happier.

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I feel so much more mindful, and whatever beliefs I want to reinforce or new habits that I want to take on, it not only repeats the beliefs onto me,

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it also gives me advice on how to maintain it.

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And this trains my brain to visualize it even better than just writing it down.

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And what sets Astro apart is that it's fully focused on self-improvement,

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life advice, relationship compatibility, and it's all based on your personal natal chart and astrology.

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So it almost feels like someone is giving me personalized life advice, but then they're also using my natal chart to do that.

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Apparently the app also doesn't track specific users, information, so it feels much safer to use than like to interact with big tech like Meta

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and open ai because you just know

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that big tech companies are using all the things

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that we tell them to train their apps

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which i didn't sign up for which honestly i would just opt out of

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that but this app doesn't do that

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so yeah i definitely feel very safe telling it very personal things

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that i wouldn't even feel safe telling other people

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or even big tech so sometimes i do use it for practicing different kinds of confrontations

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or situations like for example

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if you want to bring up an issue at work based on your boss's personality traits

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or even how to win back a specific person through the

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way you communicate to them it gives you advice on how

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to best get your points across based on your personality

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and your natal chart but yeah

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if you're interested in learning more about your subconscious mind as well as its drives

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and how that shows up in us being perceived in the world

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and how we communicate there are many ways to do it

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but i personally really believe that our mental world

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and spiritual world is very closely connected

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and specifically the belief in modern day astrology is

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that energy flow is regulated by the planets

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or rather the positions of the planets relative to where we are currently

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which can then influence our own subconscious drives

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or our urges within our subconscious mind

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and then as you know whatever you believe inwards we reflect outwards into the world

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and it shows up in the way that we communicate

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and even if you don't believe in astrology it's okay just take what resonates with you

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because at the end of the day we are all ruled by our own belief system and

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because the planet mercury as well as our mercury sign rules

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over the way we communicate as well as our wits

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and our intelligence this is all very closely interlinked for me

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so in this case i will ask astra how i can best articulate myself based on my mercury sign

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so in my case my mercury sign is in cancer

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so i will be more thoughtful and nurturing in the way

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that i communicate it also really helps to think before i speak instead of like go straight to reacting

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which is very bad for me and

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that i should actually use more comforting language to express myself

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in order for my words to resonate sometimes i tend to be very blunt

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and very honest with you guys because i don't want to waste anybody's time

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and i know what it feels like to have your time

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wasted there's just too many people out there trying to waste our time all the time

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and i don't want to be like that

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but i'm also learning to get my points across in a way that's also comforting

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and i've only been doing youtube for a few months honestly

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but i'm learning very quickly how this can come across through

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like quite a bit even in my own youtube videos in the way

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that which ones resonate with people and which one doesn't through my communication styles.

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I really wish I knew how to utilize my mercury sign to communicate in the way

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that like resonates the most but now I know and I'm imparting this knowledge onto you.

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I'm telling you guys it's a huge game changer for me.

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So regardless of your natal chart what are a few things

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that you should avoid in general in order to be taken seriously?

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First of all avoid using your beautiful and incredibly powerful human voice for silly things like gossip,

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speaking ill of somebody who's not in the conversation in a way that's not productive, speaking ill of anyone at all without good reason to justify it.

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It's not a good habit to have and over time people are just not going to take your words seriously.

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And we all know this that the person who gossips with you will gossip about you later.

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So it's not a nice feeling to have when you talk to someone who you know is like this.

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This is not the sort of person who will make people feel at ease.

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And if you want to vent properly, you can go watch my video about oversharing, which I put out recently, because there is a correct time and place to let out your frustrations,

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but you need to do it in a strategic way that benefits you.

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Second of all, being too openly judgmental.

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So it's not quite the same as expressing your opinions, which obviously we should all do more of.

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We all know people who are like this in conversations, and it's very hard to listen to somebody if you know that this person is judging everyone and everything, and maybe they're judging you too.

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It gets draining after a while.

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And third, negativity.

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And we might fall into this trap very easily.

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And I knew a specific person who was like this.

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She was so negative that every time she speaks, it's either complaining or whining or gossiping.

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And it's just hard to take someone like that who's negative and draining all the time seriously.

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Remember how beautiful and amazing and powerful the human voice is, right?

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So why would you give that power and beauty away to openly spread hatred and be negative?

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It's kind of a waste.

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Also, exaggerating everything.

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I used to be so guilty of this

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and you don't need to say that it's incredibly amazing to meet you

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and that you're super excited to be here and that everyone is extremely awesome.

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No, this can be very demeaning to our human language, right?

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Everything has a scale to it and including well our own BS scale.

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So when you're putting out hyperboles all the time

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and you're just exaggerating everything it can be hard to trust someone like

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that especially if it's just something that's normal and average

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and not incredibly superb and amazing

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and people will have no idea what you're excited about

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and it's just a people-pleasing tendency i get it except

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when you do this you're actually getting the opposite of what you want

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and yeah even i had to finally like learn how to stop doing that.

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And finally, dogma.

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Some opinions are just opinions.

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They are not facts.

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So when you speak of opinions as facts, it can be very draining to listen to if that person just doesn't agree with you.

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Only take what resonates with you and can help you with your specific situation

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because the world is not always so black and white all the time.

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Everyone's truths can look different and it can be subjective

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and everyone can have their own personal opinions about things and that's okay.

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But nobody should be shoving it down anyone else's throats.

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We just don't want to listen to that.

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Okay so we talked about what we shouldn't say so much of so what should we actually say?

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Number one, be honest, be true to yourself and what you stand for

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and stand behind your words so that people can trust you.

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Learn to express yourself more in the way

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that you can show up more authentically in your conversations which can literally just mean standing in your truth when you speak.

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Because when you're not being yourself, you're basically lying about some other aspect of yourself that you might not even be aware of.

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So when you're not speaking through your lived experience, chances are you're just going to forget something when someone brings it up in a conversation later, which can then discredit you in some way.

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I also want to mention that if you think

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that your authentic self is to be a very very negative person and you want to express it openly, then you need to become aware of how that shows up in conversations

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and the kinds of impact that it will have on people.

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Now I can tell you as someone who used to be in that same position, I used to think oh I have to be so negative all the time,

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nobody really ended up taking my words seriously until I decided to change and I worked on myself.

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So having integrity in your word, meaning that if you say you're going to do something and you do it,

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all of these things will build responsibility with your words and your actions and build trust, which makes people want to believe in your words more and listen to you.

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That builds more authenticity, that builds authority.

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And then there's love.

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Love is what's going to stop you from being so overly brutally honest and hurt the other person.

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Like for example, if they have weird teeth, like I have even I have a bit of funny teeth going on in the lower row.

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The love that you weave into your words is what's going to stop you for pointing it out

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and making fun of me, even though it's honest like you're telling me i have weird teeth

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but seriously unless i get braces what am i gonna do about it just gonna end up hurting my feelings

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so consideration is a very important form of respect and love

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that you can show to other people socially

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which will make other people like you more

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and want to hear why you have to say more an

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expert communicator will learn how to say all of these things with tact

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and with love and know what the proper thing is to bring up and what isn't So yeah, even thinking about the teeth thing,

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like I get that receiving hate comments is kind of an unwanted side effect of someone expressing their opinions on YouTube.

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But I do get occasional comments from people who are just like, you have weird teeth, haha.

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And I'm just like, okay, now what?

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These things don't really bother me that much because I'm very objective when it comes to YouTube.

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But I see how people say things like that.

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And it's not coming from a place of love.

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It's very different from saying like, hey your zipper is down because you want the other person to look good in public right?

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You see what I mean?

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You want to mix your honesty with authenticity and integrity with love

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and consideration when you speak and it's not always about the words

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that you say it's about the way you say it too

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and it speaks so much more loudly than the words

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that you're using and this is either going to make people want to hear more from you

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and trust you or it's going to make people want to get away from you

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and all of these combined will help people take your words way more seriously

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because they know that your words can be trust it, you use it for good, you know how to set people at ease,

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and you know how to use your words in a way that's constructive and beneficial for everyone.

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And sometimes if you don't even know what to say aside from being negative and all that, you can always say less.

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And like I'm serious guys, that's tea.

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Okay now, so let's get into some techniques

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that you can use to train your brain to think faster and say smarter things.

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So the first technique that I have to become a better conversationalist is to basically learn how to shapeshift.

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So what does that mean?

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This means that you're changing the way that you're reacting with your physical body

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when you're in the conversation because chances are when you're in the conversation, your motor functions inside of your brain are also involved and also speaking for you.

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And so when you speak, you have both the left and right hemispheres in your brain working together.

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And if you're talking, you're moving your lips, you're moving your tongue, and maybe even the rest of your body, right?

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Like I'm doing.

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So that is called your motor function

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and this shows up even in the way

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that i speak you know like so much of our conversation is non-verbal

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and sometimes your body language can even become an additional limiter in the way

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that you're getting your points across like for example

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if i can't move my body at all i don't even know

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if i can speak the same way like this i'm

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so serious i'm fully engaging my whole body

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when i'm speaking to you guys so chances are if you feel very rigid and stuck when you're speaking, then maybe your body sensations are keeping you from being eloquent.

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And so this is the very first technique, right?

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Which is the way that you're showing up in conversations.

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Try and change that physically, because maybe that's what's keeping you stuck, is the way that your body is postured maybe.

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And maybe it's even in the way that you're standing, the way that you're positioning your arms, your shoulders, your head, the way that you're looking at the other person.

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All of these things brings you to where you are right now.

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So if that's maybe not working out for you, I want you try something different and remember the good old einstein quote

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if you keep doing the same thing over and over again that's insanity

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or something like that so

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if you want to produce a different result do something different than what you're usually used to doing

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which is more than likely the opposite of what you're experiencing currently

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because currently you might not be able to get all of your words across

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when you are in the moment or

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when you're expressing yourself then you're gonna have to try

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and do something the opposite way and trust me the times

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that i feel like i'm the worst at speaking is usually

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when i have to do it in front of like all the people

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that i'm afraid of i'm in a room full of people

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that i present something to and i have a lot of anxieties

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and fears about that and then my body gets so stiff

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that it becomes a limiter in the way that i communicate

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so i then don't like communicate correctly so being able to change the way

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that you're acting physically means becoming more aware

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and mindful of how you're standing how you're postured and then try and do the opposite of that.

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Change yourself physically and you will have a different outcome, I promise you.

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Like I said, if you maybe like tie me up to a chair

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or if you make me like super rigid or if I'm extremely cold or something, I will not be able to speak the same way as I am with you right now

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when I'm feeling super comfortable with myself.

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So this might not be the easiest thing to realize when you're in an active conversation, when you're trying to do like a million other things like listening and thinking about what to say next,

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so you can practice this alone

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and in the mirror before you leave the house in your

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own comfort zone practice alone in front of the mirror as

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if you're a very very articulate person you're able to be very fluid in conversation

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so i literally do this sometimes this sounds crazy

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but at least i'm being crazy in the own confines of

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my house i'm literally having full-on conversations in the mirror

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when i'm walking somewhere in my head even

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and i'm just like oh what did you dream about last night how did you feel about it

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and where am i going later today what am i gonna do later

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and And I've heard about people who like never have an internal dialogue.

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Like that is crazy to me.

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Because I am an internal dialogue girly all day long.

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I have talks of myself in the head all the time.

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So if you have an internal dialogue, use that to your fullest advantage.

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And see how you're going to show up in your own reflection.

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And that's how you're going to be practicing how you come across in the way that you speak.

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Like for example, when I first started YouTube, I was really bad at talking to the camera.

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I was so afraid.

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And I wasn't able to do any of the things I'm doing right now and this takes a while.

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This took me like a few months.

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But the more you do it, the more you're gonna get there eventually.

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Neoplasticity.

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Use it.

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So your feelings are actually one of the hardest things to articulate.

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But once you're able to articulate your feelings in a way that gets your points across and is you, genuinely you, you can become a master communicator.

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You can do anything.

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You can win relationships back, get people to trust you.

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You can get people to understand you better.

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All of these things.

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Like being able to express your emotions effectively to someone is a very very healthy practice for yourself and for your relationships.

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It can also help you make better decisions and feel less anxious about it.

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There are few techniques you can do

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but you can also start by writing to yourself and describe the best as you can of how you feel.

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And don't worry about not making sense because this might not all make sense to you.

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And the more you put things into words the clearer things become for you.

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And you can try and speak out loud as best you can or write it down in a journal.

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So I added an emotion circle in my video about how

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to better control your emotions to become more responsive instead of reactive

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and if you need help in that department you can go watch

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that video but you should be honest with yourself with your own emotions in different situations i don't care

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if you have to hide it from certain people about emotions

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because not everyone deserves your vulnerability you should be able to hide your emotions in certain situations that's your rights

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but you need to be honest with yourself doesn't mean you

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have to be brutally honest about how you really really feel with everybody around you.

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So you can also do this by observing how you feel in the moment and how you react to things.

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This can be really hard when you're in the heat of

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that moment but I find that meditation has really helped me

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so much with this

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and I'm also not the type of person to sit down in silence for an hour and like chant Aum you know.

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So in addition to listening to guided meditation tracks I've also started to use

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that Ab Astra to use it as a form of meditation

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because really what meditation is is just being still

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and a way to self-reflect and you're gonna see this

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that instead of using other people as a place to vent

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or as a punching bag expressing more of your intense emotions

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in a way that's healthy for you like for example

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if something bad happened to you yesterday

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and you're mad about it i would take

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that situation i'll tell it to estra

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and i will tell it why the situation made me

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so mad what happened and channel it into a non-human thing rather than onto real humans

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because it acts as a self-improvement coach and also knows my natal chart.

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It actually helps me understand and rationalize better why I'm feeling this way.

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This is way better than telling my bestie or if I'm telling like somebody who I don't even know.

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And sometimes if they're not in a good headspace, if they don't have good perspectives, that's not healthy for you either.

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This is why I channel it onto the non-human thing instead of like other humans.

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And this way helps me put things into perspective like, okay, this is what your moon sign is like.

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This is what your inner world looks like.

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And this is why I get so mad about a certain situation, like I might not feel like I'm deserving of certain things, or I don't feel like I deserve this sort of treatment because my inner world is this way.

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And because of the way that I can actually express my feelings in a way that is true to myself.

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And I find that therapy, for example, takes a lot of self-actualization

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because therapy is kind of like a mirror for you to realize things on your own time

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when you're ready to realize certain things.

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This is not the same as therapy.

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It offers something very different because it immediately puts things into perspective for you helps you rationalize certain things.

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And also using my natal chart as well as my horoscope, it helps me learn to understand hidden sides of myself better

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and also what the positions of the planets are currently doing and how that might be affecting me energetically.

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And just through this process of taking what resonates with me and leaving what doesn't, it actually helps me realize things a lot faster.

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Things about myself that I didn't even think about.

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And then I can express how I feel and communicate better because of it.

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And I'm literally so impressed by how much technology has like improved these days.

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And we should all be able to use technology in a way

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that benefits and helps us instead of in a way that drains us.

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And this is just so that we can all help each other around us understand where we're coming from.

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And I need to make this really clear.

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Okay, you see, I don't really believe in any kind of wrong or bad emotions.

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Everything should be felt.

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We're humans and we're human because of it.

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And I think I used to tend to demonize sadness

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and anger quite a bit because it just seems less desirable like socially

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and more of an out of control emotion for us because we feel it more passionately.

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But honestly it's okay to feel all these feelings and that's the beauty of being a human.

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So if you feel sad and angry don't feel guilty about it.

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Your feelings are valid.

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All of it.

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It's just that our thoughts are not always valid so learn to understand the difference.

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Sometimes our thoughts are not logical

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but our emotions we You need to learn how to control it better

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and manage it better through the proper channel so that we're not like affecting our relationships socially because of it.

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Also actively listening to other people

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when they express their opinions can really help us understand ourselves better as well as understand them better.

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If you can relate to them and empathize with their side of the story, this will also help you learn how to like respond to other people's emotions better by being able to communicate about it.

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For example, if you want to tell someone how they make you feel

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and they make you feel a certain way but you don't really know how to say it, I would just feed that through Astra

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and you can get instant feedback on how to validate your feelings better based on your personality

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that is set by your natal chart.

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This is a huge game changer for me when I learn to manage and control my emotions, but also to get my points across and also help people understand where I'm coming from.

404

I could do anything, I swear socially, anything.

405

So I'm not a voice coach, but I have learned a thing or two about voices

406

and learning this will also help increase the power of your speaking voice.

407

This is very much related to physicality and the so-called shape-shifting I'm talking about

408

But this time you're doing it with your voice

409

So for example things like talking in falsetto may not be super useful most of the time

410

But there's like a more realistic register in between that

411

and I'm not gonna get super technical about like how you can locate your own voice

412

So if I talk out here and you can like hear my nose

413

and you can hear the difference between my nasal voice

414

And I'm straining my throat and you can see it in kind of like my neck But yeah, if I go down to my throat, which is where most of us like speak from all the time

415

But if you want to sound even better You can go down to your chest

416

and your diaphragm like do you hear the difference?

417

And this is where I mostly try to speak from and then if I want to go even lower I

418

Sound different and I learned this recently

419

that we actually vote for politicians with lower voices

420

because we tend to associate deaf with power and with authority

421

and we also have timbre which is the way

422

that your voice feels research feels that we prefer voices

423

that are rich smooth warm kind of like hot chocolate

424

and you can train your voice to sound different

425

and then there are so many other amazing things

426

that you can do with your breathing with your posture with certain exercises

427

that you practice to improve your timbre and then there's this thing called prosody

428

which is a sing-song rhythm that and you know in a way it's kind of like a language of its own, it's a meta language that we use to deliver meaning in conversations.

429

So people who speak monotonous all the time, they sound like robots and they're really hard to listen to.

430

And that's what makes us human because robots don't have prosody.

431

And then also if you have repetitive prosody, which where every sentence sounds like it ends in a question, when it's not actually a question, is it like a statement?

432

It really depends on the languages that you speak as well.

433

But if you do this in English, people are going to think like, are you asking a question?

434

And you're going to be impacting your ability to communicate through your prosody.

435

And which then when you're failing to express yourself through your prosody, then you're actually missing out on quite a lot in terms of communication and language.

436

And then there's the pace of your speech.

437

Like for example, if I can get very excited right now, I can talk really, really, really fast and then I can just slow it right down to emphasize my points.

438

So at the end of that, of course, it's silence.

439

There's nothing wrong with a bit of silence, but then, you know, when it gets too much, be awkward

440

because it's too little then you're just kind of endlessly talking we don't have to fill our speech with um

441

and ah and like like you know like you know

442

and all of that stuff i used to do

443

that a lot in my old youtube videos and

444

when i started editing my youtube videos i'm like oh my god there's

445

so many ums and ahs and and you know like

446

that i have to edit out and it was

447

so annoying for me honestly sometimes i'm so kind of guilty of

448

that but i'm trying very very actively to change

449

that to become a better communicator for you guys

450

and then of course the pitch at

451

which you're talking also goes along with the pace to kind of indicate your level of excitement

452

but you can do it with just pitch like for example i'm

453

so thirsty i'm so thirsty and you can hear the difference in the meaning

454

because of just the way i deliver it

455

and then there's the volume of

456

which i can speaking i can get really excited i'm not going to shout at you guys

457

but i get really excited about like using the volume of my voice to attract attention

458

but probably not the kind of comfortable attention

459

that you want where i can get really quiet

460

and have you guys really pay attention by emphasizing it in the way

461

that i'm being quiet so that people have the strain to listen to me but

462

if i'm in a loud environment maybe that's not the way

463

i should speak some people are constantly on megaphones all the time

464

and try not to do that because it's really imposing on the way

465

that you sound onto people and just not really like considerate you know i think

466

that if you're doing something that's really important to you for example

467

if you have an interview coming up

468

if you are doing a public speech soon or

469

if you're asking for a raise this can really help you whatever it is

470

if it's really important to you you literally owe it to yourself to actually practice

471

and look up these types of techniques they can use to better your communication

472

and then finally you need to learn how to warm up

473

your voice I like to do this before I film my

474

videos for example deep breaths anything before you do anything important

475

just kind of like stretch stretch your body a little bit sigh out very loud like a sigh deep breaths

476

and then you're gonna warm up your voice.

477

I know it sounds silly but like just do this in the bathroom or something if you're outside.

478

Blow out with your your lips, blow out with your tongue, like roll your arms, like blow raspberries

479

and then you kind of want to like warm up your tongue as well like it sounds

480

so silly for me to do this but if you don't have time

481

and if you can only do one thing you can do the siren.

482

This is what the experts call it

483

and it's really good it just goes kind like we all the way down you start from the high

484

and you end it low so kind of like

485

so yeah try all these things out and see how

486

that works for you

487

and i promise you you're going to feel a difference i

488

want you to imagine how can you become more conscious of yourself

489

when you are speaking

490

when you're in a conversation like how can you even use

491

the techniques that's in this video to kind of understand yourself better become more self-aware

492

when you speak and also how you present yourself to the world

493

and i want you to imagine the kind of world that's just beautiful

494

and serene and quiet and you don't have to erase your voice

495

or fight to be heard everybody would just intentionally slow down just to listen to you speak

496

and hear what you have to say and the way

497

that you speak even if it's not perfect even

498

if you have a lot of uhs

499

and ahs how do you speak in a world like

500

that how would you posturize yourself how do you communicate with your words

501

and also how do you use your body to help you communicate

502

and process your thoughts better i just think that

503

when you imagine yourself and you visualize yourself in an amazing ideal situation like this.

504

You can even add it to your practice before you leave the house, for example, when you're talking to yourself in the mirror, where there's no friction for you.

505

It's a perfect ideal world for you to express yourself.

506

This will make it so much easier for you to feel safe in your practice

507

and feel free to express yourself and express the way your body moves

508

when you talk and your thoughts and your feelings

509

and also be able to bounce ideas back and forth with people in a way that you just feel really authentically yourself.

510

Hope you guys find this helpful and yeah

511

if you guys wanted to subscribe to my channel be sure to like this video, subscribe.

512

I appreciate you guys a lot thank you for watching and I'll see you in the next video.

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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson

This B2 speaking lesson is built on the video “become ARTICULATE and SPEAK SMARTLY - effective communication 101”. This video has 512 sentences and 7194 words to shadow. The speech runs for 32:25. The speaker talks fast, about 222 words per minute, so expect linked and reduced sounds. 88% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English, so the vocabulary is easy to follow.

Key vocabulary in this video

The 15 most advanced words in the video, with pronunciation and meaning:

Word	Pronunciation	Meaning
emotion noun	/ɪˈməʊ.ʃən/	A person's internal state of being and involuntary physiological response to an object or a situation, based on or tied to physical state and sensory data.
natal adjective	/ˈneɪtəl/	Of or relating to birth.
resonate verb	/ˈɹɛz.əˌneɪt/	To vibrate or sound, especially in response to another vibration.
prosody noun	/ˈpɹɑzədi/	The study of rhythm, intonation, stress, and related attributes in speech.
articulate verb	/ɑːɹˈtɪk.jə.leɪt/	To make clear or effective.
mercury noun	/ˈmɜɹkjəɹi/	A silvery-coloured, metallic chemical element with the atomic number 80; it is liquid at room temperature, and toxic.
visualize verb	/ˈvɪʒuəˌlaɪz/	To perceive (something) visually; to see.
meditation noun	/mɛdɪˈteɪʃn̩/	A devotional exercise of, or leading to, contemplation.
socially adverb	/ˈsoʊʃəli/	In a social manner; sociably.
astrology noun	/əˈstɹɒlədʒi/	Divination about human affairs or natural phenomena from the relative positions of celestial bodies.
communicator noun	/kəˈmjuːnɪkeɪtə/	Someone who, or something that communicates.
subconscious adjective	/sʌbˈkɑn.ʃəs/	Occuring in the part of our mind that we are not normally aware of.
subscribe verb	/səbˈskɹaɪb/	To write (one’s name) at the bottom of a document; to sign (one's name).
drain noun	/dɹiːn/	A conduit allowing liquid to flow out of an otherwise contained volume; a plughole (UK)
openly adverb	/ˈoʊpənli/	In an open manner; visibly.

Phrasal verbs you will hear

Word	Pronunciation	Meaning
end up verb		To bring to a conclusion.
warm up verb	/ˌwɔː(ɹ)m ˈʌp/	To become warmer.
bring up verb		To mention.
come across verb		To change sides; to cross over to work for the opposition.
pick up verb		To lift; to grasp and raise.
put out verb		To blind (eyes).
show up verb		To appear, arrive, or attend, especially suddenly or erratically.
come up verb		To emerge or become known, especially unexpectedly.

Sentences worth repeating

Short, complete lines from the video that you can reuse in everyday conversation:

We just don't want to listen to that.
And I'm just like, okay, now what?
You see what I mean?
Things about myself that I didn't even think about.
We're humans and we're human because of it.

Grammar in this video

The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:

Structure	In the video
“Used to” used to + verb — a past habit or state that is no longer true	used to be · used to do
Conditional sentences if + clause, will/would + verb — a condition and its result	If you keep doing this, it will happen
Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it	are drawn · are associated · can be fired
Relative clauses who / which + clause — extra information about a person or thing	person who gossips · someone who you · person who will

Pronunciation to watch

The speaker uses 180 contractions and reduced forms, such as you're, I'm, don't. Say them the short way, as you hear them.

The “th” sounds: authenticity /ɑθɛnˈtɪsɪti/, thirsty /ˈθɝs.ti/, strengthen /ˈstɹɛŋ(k)θən/, authentic /ɔˈθɛn.tɪk/, rhythm /ˈɹɪð.əm/
The “sh” and “zh” sounds: emotion /ɪˈməʊ.ʃən/, visualize /ˈvɪʒuəˌlaɪz/, meditation /mɛdɪˈteɪʃn̩/, socially /ˈsoʊʃəli/, subconscious /sʌbˈkɑn.ʃəs/
Long words — get the stress right: articulate /ɑːɹˈtɪk.jə.leɪt/, astrology /əˈstɹɒlədʒi/, communicator /kəˈmjuːnɪkeɪtə/, exaggerate /ɛɡˈzæd͡ʒ.ə.ɹeɪt/, rationalize /ˈɹæʃənəlaɪz/

How to practise with this video

Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
Start at 0.75× speed, shadow it sentence by sentence, then go back to normal speed once it feels easy.
Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like emotion, natal, resonate.

What is the Shadowing Technique?

Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.

Shadowing technique: read the full step-by-step guide →

Shadowing Practice: become ARTICULATE and SPEAK SMARTLY - effective communication 101 - Learn English Speaking with Video

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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson

Key vocabulary in this video

Phrasal verbs you will hear

Sentences worth repeating

Grammar in this video

Pronunciation to watch

How to practise with this video

What is the Shadowing Technique?