Tag Archives: Words

Animation

I have two favourite words.  The first is love … well understood by all and sundry.  The second is animation.  The reaction I usually get to that one is some version of “Huh?” or “You like Disney flicks?”  No matter – my joy in the word goes on.

Someone, no doubt wise, said:

“The Latin word anima (meaning breath, soul) that gave us animal, has given us other words.  The English adjective animate (meaning alive) comes from the Latin verb animare, meaning to give life to, which in turn comes from anima.”

The dictionary sees animation as the state of being full of life or vigor, and offers these synonyms:

Liveliness, spirit, high spirits, spiritedness, energy, enthusiasm, eagerness, excitement, vigor, vivacity, vivaciousness, vitality, vibrancy, exuberance, ebullience, buoyancy, bounciness, bounce, perkiness, sprightliness, verve, zest, sparkle, dash, elan, brio.

Woh … so many words.  But the word itself is true.  For decades, I’ve understood that to animate is to breathe life into, to take an ordinary moment and make it vibrate.  I think that is a gift of mine – to see the light in an apparently normal second or minute.

The light was with me half an hour ago.  I’m in Aeolian Hall, a 135-year-old concert venue in London.  A young woman from Montreal has just sung five songs, as the opening act for Martha Wainwright.  After five minutes, Amélie Beyries looked at us and said “There are spirits here.”  So true.  Her voice climbed the heights of tone and soul.  Her fingers caressed the piano keys.  And just before her last song, she stood at the edge of the stage and cried.  “I’ve never experienced a hall like this.”  We smiled and loved her.

Amélie had taken us into her heart and shone a light upon us.  The time was alive, glowing, vibrating.  And we all have the power to do the same – to set others ablaze.  Maybe a little smile, a kind word, a hand on the shoulder.  We can animate the lives around us simply by being “over there” with them.  Then candles can light themselves.  Dimmer switches can push themselves up to maximum.  Off-white can transform to forest green.

Let’s do it

Words Tumbling

I woke up many times last night.  I don’t know why.  Each awakening was accompanied by a spill of words.  The thought came to write all of it down but sleep kept taking me back in.  When my alarm said hi, I knew that something special had happened, but the details were lost.

I grabbed a white index card and my trusty pen.  Lying on my back, I waited.  And more tumbling came out.  Throughout the day, I took little moments of repose and just watched.

So here it is: a selection of thoughts from somewhere splendid, somewhere unknown.  There’s no sequence to it.  And no “sense”, if you mean explainable.  I’m not sure what it all points to, but that’s okay.  Mysteries are fun.

***

Home is where the heart soars

Underneath and beyond

Sinking into love

Ribbons of light

Floating on the river

Words fall away

Underneath it all

The light of a single candle

Opening into the abyss

Mouths open … waiting

Actually not

The snake climbs the tree

The eyes of the young ones

Dancing in the night

Wandering in the world

Clouds above … pain below

Under the wings of freedom

An appetite for the luscious

The pond … everlasting

Falling through air

All through the night

I want me

Here we go again

Listen to the world

I am me … you are you

We fall from the sky

I sing upon the sands of time

Darlinka

Underwear king … of you I sing

The anthem of the world

I love you, my dear lovers

Falling into space

All together now

The wonder of the world

Unknown together

A volcano spurting

Love embraced in a robe

Over and under … above and below

Wings abide

The pulsing … the falling … the slipsliding away

Hands out … palms up … forever

Nothing and no one and nowhere

Aren’t you ready yet?

Floating upwards on a wind

Arms wide open … heart wide open

Love them all.  Light the world

One and for all

All that I want is here

What loosens?
What falls away?
What remains?

Human beings throughout the ages

What is the love that is here right now?

Holding on ever so gently

A universe of young minds

***

Well … that’s a whole bunch of stuff
Wash over me, dear words

Every Word

The realization that every act, every word, every thought of ours not only influences our environment but for some mysterious reason forms an integral and important part of the universe, fits into it as if by necessity so to say, in the very moment we do, or say, or think it – is an overwhelming and even shattering experience.  The tremendous responsibility of it is terrifying.  If all of us only knew that the smallest act of ours, or a tiny thought, has such far-reaching effects as to set in motion forces which perhaps could shatter a galaxy … If we know it deeply and absolutely, if this realization becomes engraved permanently on our hearts, on our minds, how careful we would act and speak and think.  How precious life would become in its integral oneness.

Irina Tweedie

I wonder if I have the power to shatter a galaxy.  Irina thinks so.  Is this just a romantic passage of writing or is it true that everything I do, say and think has an huge impact?  If it is true, how will I be in the world?  Sometimes thoughts just … come.  A few of them are negative, critical, diminishing.  How do I control that?  I don’t know.  I have experienced, however, times when I let those thoughts drift away almost immediately.  Cutting off the criticism so fast is also a powerful act, one that fits with Irina’s words.

This morning I’m going to breakfast with “Ben”, one of my neighbours in the condo development.  From the moment I say hi to him, I have the power to enhance life, rather than diminish it.  Does this even extend to how I pull Scarlet into his driveway?  Yes.

When we’re sitting around that gorgeous counter at the Belmont Diner, other folks will come calling – for coffee or the full meal deal.  What will I do?  First of all, I’ll say hello.  Greeting them is an acknowledgment of their existence, giving the message “I see you.  I value you.  I’m glad you’re in my community.”  Those simple thoughts can shift the planet.  I sense that they’re not just aimed from me to Joe or Mary but that somehow they spread across the smiling face of the earth.

All of this is not to say that I should walk around all tensed up, worried that a misstep or a misspeak will damage humanity.  No, I need to trust my heart, trust that goodness will come out of my hands and mouth.  Feeling ease in each moment, knowing that I intend the best for you, will allow my gifts to flow.

So Ben … the day begins.  What shall we create together?

Not Too Bad

I study words.  I study the way people speak.  It’s a strange hobby but I like it.  In the spirit of glasses being half full or half empty, I look for how I want to express myself face-to-face or on the computer screen.  Life has its share of suffering for all of us but I wonder if our words can uplift the world.  Of course they can.  We simply have to choose.  Even in the heat of the moment we can enhance or diminish.

Today I’m reflecting on phrases that are termed double negatives.  Not just one deficit thought aimed at our fellow man, but two.  Let’s take “No problem”.  That phrase is meant to be a positive but there’s something subtly sinister hiding under the surface, I think.  How about “Good” as an alternative?  That feels better.

Here are some other word groupings that can invade our psyches:

1. Not insignificant
2. I do not disagree.
3. I can’t hardly believe …
4. Less unhealthy cigarettes
5. There is hardly no worse challenge.
6. I am not, no way, ever going to help her.
7. Congress decided not to refuse to delay the vote …
8. I’m not saying he isn’t honest.
9. I choose to not allow negativity to seep away at my soul.

Am I just talking the rules of grammar here?  No.  I choose to put positive energy into the world and therefore I’m vigilant about the words I use.  May I never be hypnotized by convention.

Double Words

I like words.  Today I’m liking words which have two very different meanings, while keeping the same spelling and pronunciation.  Homonyms.  I find the contrast fascinating.

1.  Conviction … being found guilty or being committed

2.  Ball … a fancy dance or an object to throw

3.  Race … a person’s physical imprint or a competition among runners

4.  Pupil … a student or part of the eye

5.  Organ … a musical instrument or part of the body

6.  Volume … how big something is or how loud something is

7.  Date … a day of the year or a rendezvous with romantic potential

8.  Mass … how much something weighs or a religious ceremony

9.  Cataract … a waterfall or an eye problem

10.  Staff … people who work for an organization or a walking stick

***

The thing is … we human beings often look at an object, a person or an event in one particular way.  It means this.  But what if it could also mean that?  Something completely different from our usual perspective.  What if we were open to discovering the infinite amount of thats in life?  Would we not be enriched?