The Punctuation of Life

I am sure that with the debut of the texting and twittering, punctuation received a hammering. With character spaces being at a premium the use of full stops and commas would have dropped, save for the use of colon and the bracket combined to make the smiley face of course. I’m amazed that this combination is an acceptable use in work correspondence. Nonetheless, correctly used punctuation enhances the sentence, the paragraph and the stories that we write. It communicates a pause, excitement and endings.

There are lessons we can learn from punctuation. Lessons that we can apply to our lives.

The Comma – It’s the pause. It’s the breather in a sentence. In the flow of life, in the busyness of life,  it is important to push pause. Take a breath. Pause for a moment. The comma improves the quality of a sentence. The pause improves the quality of our daily lives.

The Full Stop – It’s the ending. The completion of an idea or thought of a sentence. It’s the demarcation between one thought and the next new one. Sometimes, things in our lives require that full stop. Bad habits, wrong thinking or wrong relationships need that full stop. They need that ending so that a new habit, thought pattern or relationship can begin. Some things require a full stop because they have, well, ended. Nothing more to be said, nothing more to be done, but to move onto the next new thing.

The Exclamation Mark  – It’s the shout of the written word. It’s the emphatic declaration that what has been written is to be noticed. In our lives, the exclamation mark is the celebration of life, the celebration of achievements – big or small. It’s the wow in our lives. We need to celebrate the good things, the things done well, in our own lives and in the lives of those around us. Lost some weight? Let’s celebrate! The laundry is up to date?! Let’s celebrate! Your work budget is done? Time to celebrate! When we celebrate things in the every day we make life more enjoyable. Don’t save your exclamation marks for just the big events of life. Use them everyday. There’s something in everyday to be celebrated.

Put some punctuation in your life today!