The Words Were Never Mine: Rediscovering the Language of Your Soul

Why I Believed I Struggled With Comprehension

When I was a child, I struggled with expressing what I had just read. I couldn't put it clearly into my own words.

Those who knew of my struggles couldn't understand why—because I loved reading—so much so that I would completely immerse myself in the stories and block out everything around me. But if someone asked me what the story was about—or what parts I loved most—I couldn't explain it.

When I was tested for reading comprehension in school, I struggled to answer the multiple-choice questions, write short answers, or even complete essays in a way that fully expressed what I remembered.

So, for a long time—well into college—I believed I struggled with comprehension.

Then, all of a sudden, it was like everything clicked—I could understand what I read. But it wasn't just the meaning of the words—I began seeing it from a different angle, a different perspective—almost like I was observing it from the outside of it all.

That's what led me to start asking more questions. But whenever I asked questions to clarify, to understand more deeply, people would either look at me strangely or become frustrated and say it had already been explained.

And once again, I took it to mean that I was the one who didn't understand.

Looking back now, I realize it was in those moments that I began to sense something deeper within me. I started to feel there was more to what I was reading and understanding than what was being taught.

The Deeper Reflection

Words are what we use to express ourselves from the moment we learn to speak. But as we learn words—and their structure as language—it's always through the lens of others. We're taught how they're used so we can communicate clearly.

Somewhere along the way, we begin to form our own language based on what we've absorbed—through school, relationships, and constant observation. We adopt the words and patterns we hear, trying to find the ones that feel like they fit.

But over time, something else happens. The words spoken by others—especially those who speak with confidence and ease—become the ones we want to embody.

Not just the words themselves but the way they carried language: their rhythm, their tone, their presence. We see them as role models—not just for how they speak, but for who they appear to be through their speaking.

And that's where the paradox lives.

What we see in others isn't always what's true for us. And modeling ourselves after them—even when it's well-intentioned—may not bring us any closer to who we are. Because what we admire in them might not even be true for them.

It's not just about how you present yourself—how you speak or what you say. It's about how your expression carries your energy. Your words are an expression of the Echoes within you—your soul's frequency—taking form through language.

When Your Words Stop Feeling Like Your Own

So, just because a way of speaking sounds clear, confident, or gets attention—it doesn't mean it reflects who that person really is. Because when you start choosing words based on how they're seen as correct through the lens of others—rather than how they feel for you—that's when the disconnect begins.

And over time, you'll begin to notice that the words you use no longer feel like you.

It's not that the expression of you isn't real—after all, it is coming from you. Rather, it’s the Echoes you're hearing back that become distorted because the internal structure you've created for speaking in a certain way was shaped outside of you.

The more you rely on those words, the more you move away from your inner rhythm—your presence—until the expression of yourself creates an inner pushing and a disruption you have to keep moving through.

And no matter how much you learn about better ways of communication to support your image—or how many frameworks or personality tools you explore—none of them can reflect the language that's truly yours.

Because only you get to decide that.

You choose what to say, when to say it, and how to say it. And when you do—and when it lands in a way that feels deeply true—the distortion begins to clear.

That's when you start hearing the Echoes—the Echoes of your soul—that are truly your own.

Returning to Your Own Language

We are taught to understand words through their definitions. We're trained to memorize their meaning so we can understand each other in communication.

And when we are misunderstood, we adjust the words we say—adjusting the words themselves and their structure—ensuring they remain within the proper structure of language.

But it is the miscommunication—or rather, the continued miscommunication—where we then look to ourselves, thinking that we need to learn better communication in a way others can understand. And in doing so, we can also lose the connection to ourselves.

Just as I discovered recently, while reflecting on who I was before—and who I've become.

It was during mentorship, when my mentor said, "You do things backward," that something cleared—my understanding of the Echoes of me.

I didn't know what to make of it at the time. But as I continued to reflect—especially as I went deeper into my work of Echo Connection—I began to see why it made sense, and why I hadn't understood certain things in the way others did.

We're taught the opposite of how I move through the world: learn something first, find the words to explain it, and then apply it as our own language in life.

But because it happens 'backward' for me, that's how my language of myself revealed itself—not in borrowed words, but in my own language of understanding, as the Echoes.

Living as the Echoes of You

With each word you think and speak, you begin not just shaping your words as your own language—but also shaping yourself through the Echoes of you.

Even as you adjust how you speak to be understood more clearly—and even when you are misunderstood—it's still the Echoes of you. Because you are always sending out Echoes of yourself through the way you speak, lead, and move in life.

And when you pause before a sentence lands for understanding in your mind, it's not because you're unclear in what you hear or comprehend. It's that another person's Echoes are meeting your own—and you're sensing both, trying to discern what's true for you within it.

And what is true for you… is not always about finding the 'right' words. It has always been about remembering the ones that already live in you—waiting until you're ready to hear them.

Because once you begin to listen—not just to your thoughts, but to the energy beneath them—your language changes. Not as one that becomes more composed—but as the Echoes that reveal more of you.

And when that happens, you're no longer just speaking or using language as a means of communication. 

You're living it.

Because those Echoes—the ones you now hear from your soul—have always been yours.