Power of Interpretation

We all need interpreters; people who connect dots, show us our blind spots, and challenge us to increase our self-awareness. Additionally, it is important to develop our inner-interpreter. What exactly is an interpreter?

An interpreter is different from a translator. While a translator simply takes a word in one language and shares what it means in another language, they often lack context. Conversely, an interpreter takes emotion and context into account. It’s a more thorough approach. For example, think of an in-person meeting and how it provides non-verbal clues for us to interpret, compared to an email which we translate (and often incorrectly attempt to interpret). In sum, translators simply translate the written word while an interpreter translates the spoken language orally.

We all have the capacity to be interpreters. Not just for others, but also for ourselves. How do you interpret your thoughts? Your feelings? You get to decide how to interpret them, which we often neglect. The power we have to interpret our own experiences is one of the greatest gifts that humans possess. Too often we turn into translators and simply empower non-useful thoughts and feelings. We take the thoughts and feelings as facts without doing the work to better understand where they are coming from or understand the reality that sometimes thoughts and feelings are just thoughts and feelings. A translator approach to our inner world is a recipe for a half-baked disaster.

Once we realize that we can chose how we interpret our world we become far more empowered. It impacts our interactions with just about everything. Is there a time to translate? Sure. It’s faster and can be helpful. But, most of the time we need to surround ourselves with interpreters and really hone in on our capacity to interpret. When we do that, we learn, grow, and ultimately broaden the possibility of our potential.