RUMINATE: (Verb, Intransitive) contemplate  .  consider  .  ponder  .  think about  .  mull over  .  chew over This week’s word, ruminate, has an interesting background or etymology. Coming into the English language as it did from animal life,  the word  refers to ruminants, such as cows, who,  after satisfying themselves with a full stomach of grass, find a shady spot, regurgitate,  and ruminate, allowing  their meal to digest.  Today, in English  we have phrases such as “chew the cud” and “turn over in one’s mind.”  In our quiet times, a variety of ideas—wishes, dreams, desires—pass through our minds. Ruminate is an apt description of what we do at such times. A poem by…

VULNERABLE: (Adjective) open to attack or damage . susceptible Although the word vulnerable has been in the English language since the early 1600s, we might be inclined to consider it  a 21st Century word because of its current popularity and varied  applications, especially with regard to its meaning of “open to attack.”  Also, it is often used by therapists in reference to emotional wellness, some people being more vulnerable than others to the adverse effects of stress. Moreover, vulnerable is used to describe anyone who is willing to be open and frank in sharing his or her feelings or personal failings. But it is in a different context that I am…

ASPIRE: (Verb) pursue . direct one’s hopes or ambitions toward achieving something I attend a small-group meeting on Monday evenings when we study the Psalms of David. Prior to our discussion this past Monday, the ice-breaker question was, “When you were a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?” I said I wanted to be a teacher just like Miss Grant, whom I admired immensely.  A female member of the group said she wanted to be like Superman; she wanted to fly, and she made up stories about flying.  Now, isn’t that interesting?  A girl aspiring to be Superman! This is Women’s History Month. It is…

REJECT:  (Verb) refuse, decline, rebuff, dismiss, spurn The word reject raises red flags for most people, bringing to mind hurts that may go as far back as  childhood where there may have been that little group in grade school that refused to let us play with them at  recess time. We bump up against rejection in every stage of life. My early encounter with rejection occurred when I was about eleven years old and my father tried getting me into a Jamaican girls’ school with a little reputation. I had always performed at the top of my class,  many times placing first. When my neighborhood school  was about to undergo…

DIVERGENT (adjective) different, varying, dissimilar, alternative            Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,           And sorry I could not travel both            And be one traveler, long I stood           And looked down one as far as I could           To where it bent in the undergrowth. . . Robert Frost’s poem “The Road Not Taken” has been studied and puzzled over by generations of college sophomores in in American Lit.  They have usually looked for enlightenment on the symbolic meaning of particular words and lines, with their professors nudging them along. In the poem, the word I am interested in is diverged, which means “separated”  or “parted” ways. Frost’s speaker in the poem sees…

Simplicity (noun) quality of being natural, uncomplicated,  restraint in ornamentation, plainness Although at first glance simplicity, our word for this week, may seem to need no explanation, a second look lets us know that it is multifaceted in both its denotative and connotative meanings. A few days ago, I received a forwarded e-mail from a friend who has a great sense of humor, and who also has her eyes on the times in which we are living. The writer of the original e-mail gave a long list of situations in the past when life was far less complicated, and nobody was the worse for it. Among them was this: “I  just can’t …

  LISTEN:  (verb) “To pay attention to someone. . . in order to hear what is being said.” ( Merriam Webster Dictionary) I came across a newspaper clipping in my files the other day concerning the British  Commonwealth Essay Competition for students in the year 2000. It had as its topic, “What would you most like to have learned at school  that you were not taught?”  The winning essay was thoughtfully written by a fifteen-year-old from Singapore.  In  it the student wrote, “School enlightened me on speaking well, but did infinitesimal  in teaching me how to listen.” Most of us would agree with the young writer. Our word for this week, listening, is…

ca  .  coph  .  o   .  ny /noun/  a harsh, discordant mixture of sounds; noise, discord, dissonance, uproar The synonyms associated with cacophony, our word for this week, are a commentary on the prevailing tone of our age.  It is no exaggeration to say  that ours could be called the  Noise  Age. We may delight in Edgar Allan Poe’s “tintinnabulation” of the bells, but loud, inharmonious  sounds are unsatisfying and harmful. A few months ago, I was stopped at an intersection, waiting for the green, when I heard a booming sound coming from the car in the lane next to mine. I took a furtive glance and saw an ample figure laid back in a white Cadillac, the decibel level…

1n .  dom  .  i  .  ta  .  ble /adjective/ unconquerable, unbeatable, impregnable, unshakeable, incapable of being subdued We are all  familiar with the  word indomitable, especially if we’ve read a lot of biography. The word is  used liberally in commencement speeches, and is  often  heard in stories about military exploits.   Its synonyms each begins with a  prefix that means “not,”  which suggests the idea of “not possible to be overcome.”  I recently gained a new appreciation for what it  means to have an  indomitable spirit. I met Alla at the assisted living facility when a group of us went there to present the monthly program for the residents.  When I stopped to chat with her, she asked me, “Have you read my book?”  I hadn’t, I told…

tran  .  scend  .  ent/adjective/ exceeding usual limits, surpassing, extending, or lying beyond the limits of ordinary experience, moving beyond physical needs and realities Our word for this week is one we often encounter in religious literature, referencing faith and existentially spiritual experiences. Some may think of it as meaning “otherworldly,” while for others, transcendental meditation immediately rushes into the mind. However, the word can apply very well to practical areas of life, as an article in the October 2016 Chronicle of Education shows. Professors John Kaag and Clancy Martin approach the topic within a broader context. In their article “Can Transcendence Be Taught?” they ask, “Are we teaching (our students) everything without teaching them anything regarding…