Thursday, May 5, 2016

From SCARED to SACRED


Thoughtful Thursday . . . Well, only because it happens to be Thursday and I happened to have had this interesting thought, or really more like a 'noticing', the other day that hasn't left the front of my consciousness. (And if you had any idea at all about how many thoughts and ideas I can have in any given hour, or minute even, let alone a DAY, you'd understand why I took this as somehow significant. 

 Did you ever notice that simply by changing the position of one letter, the word SCARED becomes the word SACRED?That gave me pause. I don't know why I never noticed it before, but it started me thinking. Not being a particularly religious person, though fairly spiritual, I looked up the actual definition. I do this pretty frequently, even when I know or think I know what a word means, to make sure it's being used correctly and to look for nuance. 

You probably know the most common meaning of the word sacred as it relates to religion, deity, and as a synonym for holy. Alhough I didn't learn anything new from my visit with Mr. Webster, the reminders resonated.  In no particular order: 
  • devoted exclusively to one service or use (as of a person or purpose); 
  • entitled to reverence and respect; and,
  • highly valued and important 
We know, of course, that fear can be a huge obstacle for people. However, sometimes the particular way something is phrased can hit us in a different way than it may have in the past. And sometimes, it's just timing. When I thought about the word sacred with its various meanings, and how being scared could be and likely IS in the way of my having or achieving certain things I deem highly important, I was a little bit surprised. It's not that I've never examined how fear has been or is an barrier for me; it's just that by simply changing the language, I lthought about it in a slightly different way, which was, and continues to be enlightening for me. It's a great reminder that changing our PERSPECTIVE can sometimes be the most effective tool we have. I've always loved words and language, so for me, this is just another reason to appreciate semantics. Nuance is important. 

 I invite you to look at whether and how fear is an obstacle in some area of your life. Does your persective change at all when you re-phrase the question to: 

 How does being scared prevent or preclude what is sacred in my life?  

 If so, I'd love to hear about it!  So, on a rainy Thursday morning, I'm raising my coffee mug to language, semantics and to creating more of whatever we hold as sacred in our lives!

posted by Amy Falk at 11:20 AM
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