... but words can shape my brain. According to neuroscientist Lisa Feldman Barrett, "Words are tools for regulating human bodies by regulating one another's body budgets."

Well, maybe - up to a point. She goes on to write: If you constantly struggle in a simmering sea of stress and your body budget accrues an ever-deepening deficit, that's called chronic stress.

Here's the article I read, which is apparently an excerpt from her book 7 1/2 Lessons About The Brain:

https://ideas.ted.com/peoples-words-and-actions-can-actually-shape-your-brain-a-neuroscientist-explains-how/?utm_source=pocket-newtab

As we slog through a pandemic, I've no doubt that plenty of us are struggling in that simmering sea of stress - and wouldn't it be wonderful if words alone could get us through to the end of it?

There's no question that words and language can be powerful. A kind word at the right time can make a huge difference. But at the same time, I can think of many circumstances in which there's a real need for telling it like it is or at least how the experts view it from a reasonably well-informed perspective.

So how do we address the elephant in the room if we're not even allowed to say the e-word?