>How can I (like you) become more genuine and speak from the heart? What is your definition exactly? What exactly were you noticing of the part of you that didn't want to speak? I mean, what thought patterns did you experience that held your (genuine from the heart) 'speech' back? That is a bit tricky to pin down. What I wrote about inner conflict basically describes it, but I'll give an example. When I was about 7 and bored, my mum suggested I phone my friend to see if he wanted to come over. This might have been shortly after my friend and I had had an argument, but whatever the reason I didn't really want to speak to him, but phoned because my mum had said to. So I was in a speaking situation I didn't want to be in, trying to say something I didn't want to say, i.e. inner conflict. This was possibly the first situation I had with horrible speech blocks (and probably caused my fear and hatred of phones). I ended up giving the phone to my mum pleading for her to end my distress. In retrospect if i had been genuine to my feelings, I would have just said to my mum, "I don't want to." Forcing myself to do something I didn't want to do caused massive inner conflict. As I grew older, observed when I had bad speech blocks, and remembered ones from the past, there was always this conflict. Sometimes I'm just not interested in what I'm saying. For this reason I hate phone work, like selling insurance or windows, as it often involves talking about things I couldn't care less about and I find I just can't do it with out stuttering, whereas I could talk about my hobbies or even stuttering without any speech blocks, as they are subjects I know about and have an interest in. ​ >What thoughts did you experience about not being able to speak fluently? How did you deal with these thought patterns or did you try many different approaches? I always hated not being able to speak fluently, feeling shame, low self-esteem, lack of confidence, etc. Ultimately I had no way of dealing with these feelings so I repressed them, which is not healthy. It was after years of mental health problems that I sought professional help. I also found that I didn't really know myself, which made it tricky when I wanted to express myself. So I delved into self-exploration to learn about myself. The more I learned, the more I knew myself, the more I could identify deeper inner conflict and make efforts to resolve them. All of this takes time and effort, of course. ​ >How did you deal with a thought like this: 'I can't say the next word'? In the moment, I might employ any number of tricks or techniques (one person's technique is another person's trick, in my opinion). I had done the MacGuire Programme, so could employ the breathing technique. I might discreetly tap out a rhythm and say the tricky work on the beat. I might try to soften the consonant or make the vowel shape before even saying the consonant. Maybe use another word with the same meaning (often I would think of a better word than the one I originally wanted to say). Any tricks like this you might have read about can help in the moment, but it's really the deep inner work of knowing yourself and expressing your genuine self that yields the best result (for me, anyway).