The Multiverse of Words

Look at all these words. In Deborah Levy’s book The Cost of Living, she says “Words can cover up everything that matters.” We talk because we are afraid. We talk because we want the ache inside of us to be released. We talk because we want you to understand. We talk to connect. We talk to build a wall between our head and our body. We talk to cover and we talk to expose. Words can set us free or imprison us. Ultimately it is our choice how we intend to use them.

And/Also, words are whole universes within themselves. My mother taught me to look up words, explore their meaning, their root. The other day I looked up overwhelmed, root Whelm, meaning to submerge, engulf; Overwhelm - to bury or drown beneath a huge mass. Check. Yes. This is how I sometimes feel (Often actually). It opens up a safe place for me to lay my feelings; nine letters to stand upon. I feel suddenly contained from the cacophony of feeling.

I am Overwhelmed.

Compassion. Root Passion, meaning suffering. Co - meaning I am here with you. I am also. Me too.

My favorite is Emotion. Emotion comes from the french word, Emouvoir - To stir up. Emotions are motion. And yet we are always trying to still the movement. You cannot make motion stand still, it is a maddening task.

Look at all these words. Look at all these books. Heartbreaking stories, Love stories, Redemption stories, Tools and Lessons, Practices to re-awaken ourselves to ourselves, History Lessons, Facts and Lies. Lies that we think are Facts. Stories we tell ourselves so that we can pretend we figured out this whole human thing.

This is a collection, a random collection of books I love, from a teenager to a therapist and some things in between and after. Words that together make magic.

I hope that you find one sentence that matches the beat of your body.

xoJenny

Art work Matisse. Matisse who painted women and books over and over.