Make room
for what is precious,
take time
to see your world;
and know that
you are loved
and appreciated
and seen,
even if you
can’t see yourself.Our words
shape what we see,
creating our sense
of reality,
filtering our emotions.
Let’s choose
our words wisely.
They colour
the mirror
into which we gaze.
Isn’t it wonderful that we are talking about words and conversations at last? We are human beings, and this is the breath between us.
On Wednesday, my friend Lisa Morrison posted an image of the Welsh word hiraeth on Twitter. The emotional response it evoked reminded me that words touch us in extraordinary ways.
This exploration of the living-ness of words is also arising in conversations about whether things we have traditionally thought of as nouns should be verbs.
For example, Alan Moore’s assertion that beauty is a verb. In Do Design: Why beauty is key to everything we are invited to do beauty. And the rich illustrations from Indigenous languages in Robin Wall Kimmerer’s Brading Sweetgrass.
This shifts how we see the world and ourselves. It challenges our cultural tendency to objectify everything and invites us to engage in generous conversations – with ourselves and each other – that gives more than it takes.
And uses beautiful words.
Hiraeth n. (Welsh) A spiritual longing for a home which maybe never was. Nostalgia for ancient places to which we cannot return. It is the echo of the lost places of our soul’s past and our grief for them. It is in the wind, and the rocks, and the waves. It is nowhere and it is everywhere. Especially in the context of Wales or Welsh culture, it is a deep longing for home.
This week
Started off the valley and ended in the challenge to reimagine our language for this emerging season.
- Monday: The geese have flown…
- Tuesday: What can we learn from thistles?
- Wednesday: What might we be missing?
- Thursday: Growing words for a new season
- Friday: Being the change in conversation