I've had a breakthrough

I've had a breakthrough I've recently had a breakthrough with my fluency by deploying a new strategy. I want to share that strategy in the hopes it might work for you too. I discovered it by accident. Here it is: I've been making a conscious effort to detach myself from my emotions while speaking. I focus on description absent any emotional connections. I decided to try doing this because I felt I couldn't translate my thoughts into clear language while speaking. I'd often find myself talking in circles, wondering why a thought that seemed so clear in my head made no sense when I tried to articulate it verbally. My stutter exacerbated the problem for obvious reasons. So, to the best of my abilities, I began ignoring the emotional responses clinging to my thoughts and instead focusing on analytic articulation. This strategy doesn't come naturally; I have to be deliberate. Here is what it has looked like for me in practice: 1. Take your time: It seems like this has become a dirty phrase in our community, and I understand why. We've all had the infuriating experience of being on the receiving end of this advice during bad blocks. As stutterers, we know that if someone is actually saying this to us out loud, it's already too late to "just slow down." The block has us in its grips. But if you can be proactive and approach your speech with the intent to speak methodically, choosing your words carefully, it's easier to circumvent blocks. What does this have to do with emotions? See #2 2. Don't be afraid of reasonable word substitution: Word substitution can be a crutch, but it can also be a tool. Something that has made my stuttering worse is a compulsive fixation on using the exact word I want to use. I had an emotional attachment to being a person who is able to use that word, that phrase, etc, and having to adjust because of my stuttering caused an emotional response in me. I've learned to **let go**. It's ok to adjust. Language is vast, and there is no one perfect way to say something. 3. Pay attention to how much tension is in your body, and take steps to eradicate it: If you are tense, it's likely because something is triggering an emotional response in you. Tension reduces fluency. In my case, I take deep breaths and deploy mindfulness practices. There are a lot of options here, so I won't get into all of them. Find what tension reliever works for you. 4. Adopt a general practice of verbalizing what you think, not what you feel: Before you're about to speak, really make an effort to filter your mind based on this distinction. If something is stirring a physiological response in you (that sinking feeling in the pit of your stomach, that locking tension at the base of your throat), take a deep breath and ask yourself what you **think, not what you feel**. Then speak. 5. You don't have to be a robot! Emotional responses are fine in the moment-to-moment banter that characterizes most socializing. But in my case, as I'd bet is the case for most of you, the stuttering really comes out when I'm trying to describe something in a conversational setting. I'm not a speech pathologist, but this has worked for me. I'm not 100% fluent, of course. There are still difficult words and sounds. But there are FAR fewer of them when I can control my emotions enough to ignore them while speaking. That control is empowering.