Words are so subjective aren’t they!?!
They’re subjective because they are generally based on opinions, emotions or feelings. And where there are opinions, emotions and feelings there are one or more identities that arise from ‘who’ as opposed to ‘what’ we are at our core.
Too many times words have tethered me to a linear way of thinking, believing or responding to life.
Take ‘Original’ as an example…
Original comes from the base word ‘Origin’ with its Latin ‘Oriri’ and means, to rise… where we rise again and again from a space of no beginning nor end. Only, when I initially heard external references to this word, from a source I placed value and respect on, I heard there was no such thing as original, only an identity that has latched onto and made meaning from that word.
Some of you may remember my website originalme and the healing modality I created that encompassed Sound Healing, Sacred Geometry and Dreaming. I let this go in 2022 - seems so long ago now - and played with the idea of transforming the site into a platform where stories were shared from communities across the world. I tweaked the words on the site and interviewed a couple of people, and when those fell flat, I let it sit there.
Next month the domain name comes up for renewal and a decision needs to be made! Here’s a recap of what its name means/meant to me…
Original is to rise and meet with the light of us in support of the people and the planet
ME doubles as Mother Earth and Me, the steward
OM is a person’s soul signature song sung in elemental tune with nature
The original peoples and cultures on Earth have valued story as integral to one’s identity since the beginning of time. Often, a community’s wellbeing depended on the stories handed down through the generations.
Now, as we breach the waters of our sovereignty we remember our dreaming and unite in community to establish new ways of being, built on firm foundations of equality.
Rising again:
Might the takeaway from all words - whether we hear something and misinterpret what’s been said, voice something from a low vibrational mood that leaves room for misinterpretation, or we read something but only absorb an aspect of its full intended meaning - not to be or become attached to any of them?
Like grains of sand at the beach where my feet tunnelled on Christmas Day, while watching my three adult sons enjoying the ocean, words freely came and went in a constant stream of dialogue between all living beings - nature included - in non-acceptance nor rejectance (new made up word), allowing them to be. In this way, I made no decisions in haste knowing if I’m meant to take heed of a message it will arrive in such a way that my entire body knows its genuinity (another made up word).
And when the words are way too many and too much, returning to the silence, stillness and sweet surrender of what is, sees these fall away into the abyss of cavernous word pits to recycle anew.
I have yet to decide whether to reinvent originalme as a storytelling platform for innovative and pioneering activities that support people, communities and the planet. Maybe this post is about dipping my big toe into the proverbial crystalline waters to see if there’s any response or interest in reading such stories, set to inspire and uplift? As always, only time will tell.
What has the world of words taught you in recent months?
I wonder if you feel they are meaningful only to the one who speaks, reads and hears them as I do?
Then there is nature’s call:
While I have yet to decide on originalme - as mentioned - nature surely decided for me about moving from where I currently rent from my second-born son, after my car started whistling. Of course, I took it to my mechanic who took it for a drive and didn’t hear anything. My car was serviced and I was hopeful the issued had been resolved.
It hadn’t.
The whistling returned and became louder and more insistent… potentially urgent… back to the mechanic two days prior to Christmas and to where Jedda (my car) will remain until the mechanic returns to work January 6, has received the parts - head gasket cover and four valves - and has completed the labour… an expense that defied logic and saw me surrender, again, to what is.
Nature works in mysterious ways.
2024 in review:
This year has seen a flurry from the old world of words diminish to a great degree, which I am super grateful for. The less my mind absently instructs from a place of old outdated programming and the more my body spontaneously responds, the more graceful my natural native state of being. The gratitude I feel for clearer communication with those I love is indescribable and timely. However, equal significance resides with those I have encountered this year… notably, one such occurrence was in Toronto when I stopped to have a conversation with a woman who was asking for money, and discerning her genuineness on the spot from what she did and didn’t say, along with her actions. It certainly was a test for me on several fronts, yet I walked away with a solid feeling of knowing I had made the right choice.
When it comes to clear open raw and integral communication, it begins and ends with ourselves.
In my humbleness, keeping the lines of communication open is imperative if we are to re-form a world where peace is the pathway from which anything is created anew.
In a year where I have let go of 60 or so journals full of my life’s meaning in written words, it is suffice to say that there is a lightness along with an emptiness ripe for new beginnings.
One may wonder that if I’ve been so used to making sense of my world through words - spoken, written and heard, that there might not be any books to write beyond my next one the deeper I move into silence and telepathic communication. Not so! I sense there will always be the opportunity to translate what the body feels into words, whether the event, understanding, experience etc. arises from words or not, one can make meaning. The joy then might feel like salmon jumping upstream in migration to spawn new words and forms of communication like none previously known.
In a nutshell, reviewing one’s year based on the world of words is understandably not an area one might usually acknowledge. I actually wasn’t aware of what I was going to write for this post and it has pleasantly surprised me. I wonder what you might hone in on and share from 2024 through the lens of living your life… I look forward to reading your comments.
As we near the close of another Gregorian calendar year - might we consider changing this too - and appreciate all we have faced, risen to, travelled, let go of and overcome, may we eternally remember that we truly have done our best no matter our current circumstances.
Thank you sincerely for being here.
Love’s harmonies,
Leanda Michelle ✍🏼📚
Leanda, I finally got to read this and really enjoyed it. How amazing that you released old journals. That's been a challenge for me! 😉 You're travelling light in more than one way. And yes, the silence is so important. We must enter it each day and cultivate that practice like caring for a garden. Wonderful to see your grown-up boys at play!
Leanda I enjoyed reading your reflections on words. The last few months I have had few words easily coming to me, being necessarily focused on my move. I like 'originalme" and hope your answer arises easily. The letting go of 60 journals was truly impressive, I am moving with mine once again, maybe someday . . .