For many, March signals the time for spring cleaning. Experts claim spring cleaning can make you happier, healthier, more productive and reduce stress. During the month of March, not only have I been cleaning my home, I have also been cleaning up my speech. No, not removing expletives. Rather, cultivating a habit of constructing positive speech and removing negative speech in my everyday reactions.
I think most people would agree that our country and our world is being torn apart by anger, division, hate and strife. According to the Clean Speech movement, the way we speak is both the problem and the solution.
The Clean Speech movement began in Colorado with Rabbi Raphael Leban, who launched the program in 2019. Leban became distressed at the increasingly angry discourse he observed in real life and online. Since 2019, more than 50,000 people in the U.S. and across the globe have participated. The idea began to embrace the ancient Jewish principle of shmirat halashon, or “guarding the tongue.” The goal is to teach people to use their words wisely.
