Words Reveal the Soul Within
“Words, like nature, half reveal and half conceal the soul within.”
I have been on the island for two weeks now and this is the first early morning that there is enough warmth in the air to sit on the deck. Filtered sunshine makes it difficult to see my computer screen as I write my morning pages and start the first draft of this week’s blog post. Our resident hummingbird babies sweep by my head, their playful antics make me so happy. There seem to be four of them, two Anna’s (or ruby-throated) and two rufous hummingbirds, I think – but I’m not quite sure, they don’t seem territorial at all. They are fast and fearless and full of curiosity, hovering in front of my face for a closer look.
The kingfisher is perched on a branch by the pond this morning. My father, who died 10 years ago, loved kingfishers. His ashes are scattered in the pond and every time a kingfisher stops by for a visit I wonder what message my father is sending me. My father also loved listening to conversations between the resident ravens living on the neighbour’s farm. I sometimes think that if I was a student of ornithology it is the language of ravens that I would study.
Once I am done writing, Tucker and I will head out for a long ocean walk. We usually have the ocean trails to ourselves, so many people are still not venturing out. On almost every walk we see a pair of otters cavorting in the water. They glide by the shore, so close that I can hear them chomping on their meal of small fish.
Kingfishers, ravens, and otters – they all fill me with such joy. How sad that these nature words are considered lost words. Along with wrens, acorns, bluebells, and other nature sightings that fill my heart, these words have recently been removed from the Oxford Junior Dictionary. Removed from the dictionary because they were not being used enough; replaced by words such as broadband, celebrity, and voicemail. On my bookshelf sits a copy of Lost Words, a tribute to these nature words, created by Robert Macfarlane and Jackie Morris. I hope to one day read Lost Words to future grandchildren, to remind them of the beauty and fragility of nature.
In one of my early blog posts, I wrote about my love of quotes. These last few months I am coming to realize how much I also enjoy words. I want to remember lost words and rejoice in new words; words I have never heard before and old words that have taken on new meanings. Some of these words have only recently spoken to me, to the woman I want to be as I move into this next stage of life.
RUMBLE. I have a close group of friends who I look forward to rumbling with in the coming years. Brené Brown describes a rumble as “a discussion or conversation, defined by a commitment to lean into vulnerability, to stay curious and generous… to be fearless in owning our parts…to listen with the same passion with which we want to be heard.” I am hoping to also introduce the concept of rumbling into the workshops I will soon be offering, Women Rowing North: Writing Our Life Stories.
WEAVER. As I age I want to be a weaver. No, I don’t want to sit behind a loom; instead, I want to weave relationships between people whose spirits will soar from getting to know each other. In my work as a community developer, I was a weaver, someone who connected people and organizations who were previously unconnected and often even unaware of each other’s role. I want to continue being a weaver for the women who enter my life, I think all have us will benefit from these connections.
PLUVLIOPHILE. This is not a new word, but a beautiful word to describe one of my qualities, a lover of rain, someone who finds joy and peace of mind during rainy days.
UNRAVELING. Midlife is not a crisis. Midlife is an unraveling. As Brené Brown shares, …”Midlife is when the universe gently places her hands upon our shoulders, pulls us close, and whispers in our ear: I’m not screwing around…Time is growing short. There are unexplored adventures ahead of you. You can’t live the rest of your life worried about what other people think. You were born worthy of love and belonging. Courage and daring are coursing through your veins. You were made to live and love with your whole heart. It’s time to show up and be seen”. Unraveling is defined as exploring something complicated or puzzling. I don’t just want to unravel the mysteries of this next stage of life, I want to be part of unraveling the complexity of the issues I am passionate about.
HOLDING SPACE. If I had to choose a word to guide my year right at this moment, I would choose the words holding space. I find the concept of holding space - walking alongside another person (or ourselves) on a journey without judging, fixing, belittling, or shaping the outcome, such a profound way of supporting someone, including ourselves. I want to hold space for myself and others through my writing, my workshops, and my relationships with the women who come into my life. Heather Plett offers a practitioner program that teaches the art of holding space and I am wondering whether I can find time to add her online program to my schedule, so I can deepen my understanding of holding space.
MERAKI. And one last word from the urban dictionary, Greek in origin. Meraki is doing something with total love, and pure soul. It is leaving a little piece of yourself in your creative work. I want to bring a little meraki into the work I’m passionate about.
These are only a few words that are exquisite both in meaning and expression. Words I want to use in sentences – although I’m not sure if some of them are verbs, or nouns, or adjectives! They offer a way of being that resonates deeply with how I want to live my life.
I know some of you love language as much as I do. Are there words - old and new - that you are reflecting on as you think about the life you want to live?