About
Why personal meaning matters
Gloss captures the words that run your life. You define them. You put them next to someone you love. Readings and Talk read the map back. It will not coach you into a belief.
The problem
Couples fight about “support.” Teams drown in “urgent.” People burn out chasing a definition of “success” they never chose. A word list alone will not fix that. You need something that can read the dialects and show the mix-up, before advice, before compromise theater.
Example gap
“support”
You
Sitting with me when I’m a mess. Not fixing it.
Them
Helping solve the problem so you feel lighter.
You ask for presence. They offer solutions. Both are love. Neither matches.
Gloss doesn’t decide who’s right. It makes the gap visible so you can talk about the right thing.
The practice
- 1
Define
Write what the hard word means to you in plain words. Keep it real. Old meanings stay when you change it.
- 2
Compare
Put both definitions side by side. Gloss shows the gap. It does not pick a winner.
- 3
Translate
Name the mix-up. Agree on one shared sentence to try for a week.
- 4
Check in
Did the sentence help? Keep it, change it, or drop it. Update the word if your meaning shifted.
- Choose For us (or For me). Pin a friction word: the one that keeps starting fights.
- Write what those loaded words mean to you (Your words). Old definitions stay when you update.
- Invite them to define the same list alone. They shouldn’t see your answers yet.
- Compare the two dictionaries side by side. Then Translate: draft one temporary shared sentence, try it for a week, and Check in.
- Use Talk when one word is loud alone, then save the clearer definition. Readings is the portrait that gets sharper as you go.
What Gloss is not
Not therapy, diagnosis, or a substitute for professional care. Not a mood tracker. Not a coach that tells you what to believe. We surface collisions and meaning gaps. You decide what to do with them. If you are unsafe, contact local emergency services or a crisis hotline (in the US: 988).
Mirror’s talking style borrows free educational ideas: reflective listening (active listening / Motivational Interviewing OARS), and feelings–needs vocabulary from the Center for Nonviolent Communication’s educational inventory, plus Focusing-style “felt sense” prompts. Credit where it’s due; none of that makes Gloss a clinician.
For facilitators
Therapists, coaches, and pastors often hear clients argue past each other using the same words. Gloss Couples works as homework: each person defines shared words privately, then compares. Export the record. Keep the session for the human work.
Privacy
Your words live in this browser’s IndexedDB. Export anytime. Compare history and Talk chats stay on-device. Your plan unlocks when you sign in. No ads. We will not sell your definitions. Full detail: Privacy Policy · Terms of Use.