Words can work wonders - and disasters. Words will work wonders if we are speaking with both heart and mind. With heart I mean a deep feeling of connection with everything and everyone and with mind a clear view of our strengths and weaknesses and of the differences between us and - the ability to recognize its own limits. Then our rational mind wisely surrenders the upper hand in our life to our heart, which, somehow, "knows" that it is connected. Key words: talking with heart and mind, communication, connection, truth and lies, honesty, promises, forgiving, conflicts, poems, words of truth, courtesy etc

Sylvia Wetzel, born 1949, experiments with paths to outer and inner, political and psychological liberation since 1968 and is practicing Buddhism since 1977. With her critical approach to and creative interpretation of European culture and gender issues the author and Buddhist meditation teacher is one of the pioneers of Buddhism in Europe since the mid-eighties.