Proverbs 17:27
Can you bridle your tongue when your heart is under pressure? That’s how you show that you are wise. An understanding heart keeps you cool, calm, and collected, no matter what you’re facing.
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Dual Processing: Say Less, Love More
Where do we even begin with this verse? The Passion Translation is my go-to rendition of this passage because it lays it out so vividly: the first question is searing. When the heart is under pressure, can you really control what flies out of your mouth?
Jesus said it best in Luke 6:45: Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks.
To me, that word ‘abundance’ means—whatever your heart is full of—is just gonna spill out.
But the ancient wisdom that we’re exploring here today actually flips that entire script. It’s using your ability to hold your tongue as a measure of wisdom. Instead of being unfiltered, it’s highlighting the sophistication of mastering restraint in the moment, and it’s saying: that’s a wise thing.
Holding your tongue when you feel raw isn’t about lying or hiding—it’s an advanced skill of foresight. You’re thinking two or three moves ahead: How will my words land? How will they impact those around me? Will what I say make the situation better or more complicated? The goal isn’t to make people feel better about you—it’s to have people feel better about themselves when you leave the room.
That type of foresight helps you cultivate what the second part of this verse calls an ‘understanding heart’: keeping yourself cool, calm, and collected, no matter what you’re facing.
Now that’s a lot of processing: and I like to think of it like Dual Processing:
* See Open Processing – that’s your first instinct: to speak how you feel. You know ‘keep it real’. Now that’s an important level of being authentic, but it’s often reactive and limited to narrow perspectives.
* But Open-Source Processing – or what we would call dual processing: that’s what I say is next-level: where you consider your heart, but also, you develop the spaciousness of recognizing and considering the hearts of others. What makes this next level is that you ‘understand in your heart’ that the life experience of others is just as real and valuable to them as your life experience is to you. And that spaciousness moves you to respond with care. Your speech becomes generative, not destructive.
It’s like upgrading a computer with a dual processor. Suddenly your mind handles emotional complexity on an exponential level. You’re no longer bound to raw impulse; you’re navigating life with a bigger heart-drive of clarity, calm, and understanding—cool under pressure, wise under fire.
Did you get that…heart drive instead of hard drive? And if you were considerate you'd be laughing at my joke right now because you have the spaciousness to understand that I'm trying to be both clever and compelling at the same time when the joke is kind of weak and it's less than clever and not compelling but you would still laugh anyway and…
Look:“ True wisdom is saying less, loving more, and thinking two steps ahead.”
🙏🏽 Prayer
God, guide my heart, tongue, and mind to act wisely.
💡 Today’s Challenge:
Notice your dual processing. First, acknowledge your own feelings honestly. Then, pause and consider the impact on others. Ask: How will my words affect them? Respond with care, restraint, and foresight. Speak less, love more, act wisely.
About the Author
Fred Lynch is a creative communicator, author, and Christian Hip Hop pioneer. To learn more about Fred and what he’s up to now…click here or you can find him in all the socials by searching the handle: heyfredlynch
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Be Wise and Be Well...peace.
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