The Daily Word

for January 31, 2021

Karma - noun - destiny or fate

I borrowed the above definition of Karma from Google, but the word means more than you think. Most people who don't run with Hindus or Buddhists misinterpret Karma to mean punishment. For example, if you commit an egregious act, most likely you will endure the pain of a similar egregious act at the hand of someone else. Although this could indeed happen, Karma does not exist to punish. It is all about balance as a Buddhist monk once informed me. Life does tend to balance out, and the idea is surely optimistic considering the shaky ground we are standing on today. If we believe in the equity of Karma, then we know that after this time of great loss and woe in general, there will be great gains and mirth in general. If you look back, the patterns of history prove that Karma is real. I could impart personal anecdote after personal anecdote to legitimize the existence of Karma in my own life, but I won't bore you. 

Believe in balance and do your part to stabilize the trembling earth beneath your feet.

Happy Sunday!

GEN 

#inspiration. #optimism. #words. #vocabulary. #writers. #poets. #readers

The Daily Word

for January 20, 2021

indefatigable - adjective - being able to persist sans getting tired

Indefatigable is the kind of word that even takes effort to pronounce. Ergo, if you can hang in there throughout numerous attempts until you eventually get it right, most likely you'll own the definition, meaning that you'll truly be indefatigable to an extent.  

Optimism, which is technically what this blurb is all about, takes "indefatigable" to a whole new level. You have to believe that everything will work out in the end and do so indefatigably. 

Enjoy!

GEN

#inspiration #writers  #readers #poets #vocabulary 

 

The Daily Word 

for January 29, 2021

by Gwyn English Nielsen

authenticity - n. - state of being real, original

Sometime before Christmas, a “friend” of mine (potential paramour), who is a psycho-analyst in L.A., had redecorated his office and wanted to give me a tour of it on Zoom. At one point, he paused before a box of words and told me that he allows his clients to pick from it and “own” the term selected. As I couldn’t do so myself, he picked for me. My choice, or really, his choice, was “authenticity.” After the unveiling, he noted, “Oh, that’s a good one for you.” Ouch! Immediately, I wondered what he meant as it struck me as an accusation. Hadn’t I always been upfront, honest, and totally transparent with him?

 As I gazed around the room displayed on my laptop’s screen, I noticed that someone had drawn a cartoonish moon and a few stars on his white board. When I asked whether one of his clients is an artist, he confessed that one of his “friends” (most likely a former lover) had left it there for him after hours, and he forgot to erase it. (Hmm. After hours? Moon and stars? As in “You are the moon and the stars to me”?) As nothing more was volunteered about the mysterious, female, spontaneous sketcher, I came to the conclusion that he was the one who needed to look closely at the concept of authenticity as he surely was not being genuine with me. 

What am I suggesting here? If you want to feel better about yourself, just be real. Be authentic. Be honest. It may not feel good in the moment because you may feel as though you could be injuring another with your candor; but in the end, even though outright veracity may hurt, after a while, it feels more like a pinprick as opposed to an equivocator’s stab in the back when you finally find out the gospel truth. Just sayin’. 

#inspiration.  #words. #vocabulary. #writers. #poets. #readers

The Daily Word

for January 28, 2021

 sacrosanct - adjective - sacred, holy

My beloved mother, who passed in 1999 at 81, was an amateur astrologer and bonafide seer–perhaps her own version of a prophet–who could guess your birthday and then proceed to tell you everything about yourself before you could inhale your next breath and utter an exclamatory expletive. She was the definition of yesterday’s word, portentous. But it was her borrowed one-liner, “Let go and let God” that has stayed with me over the years as sacrosanct. No matter what you are going through, allow yourself to step back, take a few deep breaths and use the aforementioned as a mantra. Understand your limitations. Allow God to be the maker of miracles. 

#religious-inspiration.  #inspiration.  #vocabulary. #words.  #reader.  #poet.  #writer

The Daily Word

for Wednesday, January 27, 2021

portentous - adjective - stimulating wonder or amazement

The above definition of portentous is actually the second of three in the dictionary. The first casts shadows of negativity, reminiscent of William Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet": "Black and portentous must this humor prove/Unless good counsel may the cause remove." I tend to steer away from tragic romances because I have too much in the way of personal material. I do like the second definition, which is definitely in contrast with the first. It is quite unusual to uncover a word that possesses two very opposed meanings.

To me, anything that incites awe is a good thing: an A on a previously unmotivated son's or daughter's report card, a squirrel's dexterity when eating with its fingers, the sun peeking over the offing and illuminating the calmness of the ocean at 6 a.m., your mother's consistently accurate advice that you rarely take and then regret not taking, the tears of your unemotional brother as he watched Biden get inaugurated, etc., etc. These are tidbits of life that are portentous and foreshadow more surprises to come. 

As it is almost 8 p.m. where I am, what did you find portentous about today? 

GEN 😊

#inspiration, #inspiring-words, #optimism, #writers, #poets, #readers

 The Daily Word 

for January 26, 2021

buoyancy - n. - ability to float when everyone around you is sinking

Buoyancy is tied to optimism, like a buoy can be tied to a dock when it hasn't been assigned to a solo gig. 

Optimistic people are buoyant as they never permit themselves to be tied down in the half-empty class of pessimism. They float in the glass that is half full.

While listening to FM radio this morning, still my medium of choice, I heard that the American Heart Association has proven that staying optimistic–buoyant–cuts your risk of getting heart disease. Yet they are probably just stating the obvious as common sense dictates that the healthier your mind is, the healthier your body is. Like optimism and buoyancy, the two are connected. 

Embrace the two, get out there and float through the day! Enjoy!

G.E.N. 

#inspiration, #optimism, #writers, #poets, #readers

 The Daily Word for January 25, 2021

ephemeral - adjective- brief, tentative, not long-lasting

Everything in this life is fragile, ephemeral, especially romantic love. Think of a red balloon. With sufficient oxygen, it begins large but evanesces over time. Often love is like that. If you don’t make the effort to keep the air in the balloon, it will lose its magnitude. Two have to share the balloon and contribute the breaths to maintain its breadth. Some see the balloon losing air and replace it with two separate balloons. Therein lies the problem. Selfishness outweighs selflessness. To perpetuate romantic love, two must contribute equally. 

As this is supposed to be an inspirational column, the thought I wish to leave you with is positive in nature. Since life and love can be ephemeral, we have to work unselfishly together to keep it buoyant, full of oxygen. (Hmm, buoyant may be a good word for tomorrow!)

#wordoftheday.  #poetry. #writers. #readers. #inspiration 

 The Daily Word

    for Sunday, January 24, 2021

This past Thursday, my indomitable daughter, a Millennial who just happens to be braving all conceivable elements, including COVID, flew out to ski Vail with my best childhood friend and her husband. In her downtime, she managed to text me a link to The New Yorker's "Fran Lebowitz's One-Star Amazon Reviews," knowing I've always enjoyed Fran's cynical New York humor just as I have Woody Allen's. Imagine the two together! The pessimistic pair prove that if you fall in love with the Apple, live in its core for X-amount of time, it is almost a guarantee that you will emerge a misanthropist with an ironic sensibility. But I digress. In Fran's review of Amazon's coasters, she writes, "They hold your drinks. That's it. They're coasters. They coast. By the way, I endorse this as a general lifestyle." In honor of Fran and all those who like the image of coasting through life, today's daily word is coast.

coast - verb - to move easily

Certainly all wish to move easily through life, particularly in the current climate. Ergo, free yourself from being a beast of burden to stress or fear and do a little coasting. I recommend taking a trial run down your street by foot or by bicycle or even by scooter or roller skates. (Does anyone even own roller skates these days?) Convince a relation or friend to accompany you for the ride. Breath in the sensory experience, and feel better. 

Happy Sunday!

Gwyn English Nielsen

#inspiration. #optimism. #reader. #writer #poet

   The Daily Word 

          for Saturday, January 23, 2021

#inspiration, #inspirational-thoughts, #writer, #reader

This morning I awoke and immediately thought of what word to emphasize today: grit. 

grit - noun - stubborn courage

Before retiring in June of 2019, I taught British literature to students in the eleventh grade at a suburban high school in Jersey. As a way of focusing their minds on inspirational concepts, I segregated a small number of relevant, resonant abstractions and had the students define the words and then create eye-catching posters to advertise them. Grit was a choice that somehow confounded my students as they couldn't quite wrap their minds around "stubborn courage."

 Luckily, we had all witnessed a superior example the day before at an outdoor prep rally held on the football field. The only male on the cheerleading squad, Shakir, a proud, gay, African American student–whom I had the pleasure of teaching twice–decided to make a statement and did a series of flips across the length of the field. Grit could have been this particular student's last name that morning. In fact, it could've been every morning since Shakir has never been daunted when it comes down to displaying exactly who he is. As far as I know, he is still the avatar of grit as a student at Rutgers and is still managing those sequential round-offs.

Do you have what it takes to define grit? If you are surviving this pandemic well, then you may already have it. Perhaps most of us do. We just don't think about it. 

 

 

#inspiration, #vocabulary, #words, #writers, #writing, #readers

The Daily Word for Friday, January 22, 2021

vivify - verb. - to bring live to something

Today, I am feeling kind of low, enervated; but I don't intend to stay down in the dumps for long. I intend on vivifying my current psychological and physiological state of being. Which may take some time. I've already let almost half of the day slip by me. 

If you are exactly where I am, let's get up and do some exercising to vivify our beings.

Good luck! I'm with you!

Gwyn

Just an inspiring, affirmative word for today... #writers, #readers, #poets, #inspirational

 

 Inspiring Word for Today

    Fortitude - noun - strength of mind and the courage that comes with it. 

    I'm going with fortitude today as it is the end of the week, and I personally need to latch onto the concept of mental tenacity. Originally, I was thinking of emphasizing patience, but fortitude transcends patience, any sense of delayed gratification.

Extend into the day with a sense of fortitude. Rise up and contend with the minutiae that can often be so consuming. I believe you can. We can do it together. 

Just a word for today...

 

    I have to admit that English words have always been attractive to me. Not just any words, though. Words that are provocative, words that emote, words that cajole, words that communicate the speaker's best possible intentions. As you probably learned in your high school English classes from teachers like me (I am now happily retired from that occupation), words can also be extremely powerful, not necessarily in a good way. 

    However, what I am going to do is present you with suggestions to improve your diction and also your point of view. If you are a pessimist, a realist or somewhere in between, I'll offer you a vocabulary that might immerse you in optimism. My blog, which will visit you daily, but only if you visit it daily, will offer you a word in all of its mysterious magnetism to contemplate. This one I put on Tumblr this morning:

sanguine. an adjective that relates to optimism in difficult times

This one resounds with relevance. Use it in your own blog or journal or everyday communications, oral or written.