Positive Matters

iUniverse, Inc.

Contents

Preface...............................................ixThe Words.............................................1Acknowledgments.......................................163Appendix – Words by Alphabet.....................165References............................................167

Chapter One

ABUNDANCE

DEFINITION:

an overflowing fullness; ample sufficiency; great plenty; profusion; copious supply; superfluity; wealth: strictly applicable to quantity only, but sometimes used of number.

ETYMOLOGY:

Latin, stem of abundare, to abound; from ab, from the beginning + undare, to flow in waves, from unda, a wave.

* * *

QUOTATIONS:

Talent is always conscious of its own abundance, and does not object to sharing.

—Alexander Solzhenitsyn

Many a man curses the rain that falls upon his head, and knows not that it brings abundance to drive away the hunger.

—St. Basil

Whatever we are waiting for—peace of mind, contentment, grace, the inner awareness of simple abundance—it will surely come to us, but only when we are ready to receive it with an open and grateful heart.

—Sarah Ban Breathnach

* * *

I never thought about this word much. In fact, sometimes I feel it's a bit overused. But it's more in the forefront of my mind now, especially when I think of the abundance of blessings and gifts I've received throughout my life. What came to mind first, though, when I thought about this word, seemed silly: my mother's hair has always been rather thin and sparse, very different from the thick crop I inherited from my father's side. It inspires me to be grateful for the abundance of hair I was born with, so I've got some to spare now that mine, too, has begun to thin as I grow older. My hair is straight—how funny that I always wanted curls or waves. I'm simply reminded that when we choose to take a deeper look, we can always find something that is plentiful in our lives.

* * *

DELIGHT

DEFINITION:

(noun) a high-wrought state of pleasurable feeling; lively pleasure; extreme satisfaction, joy. (verb) to give delight to; to please highly.

ETYMOLOGY:

Old French deliter and Latin delictare, to delight; frequentative of delicere, from de, fully + lacere, to allure.

* * *

QUOTATIONS

We do not believe in ourselves until someone reveals that deep inside us something is valuable, worth listening to, worthy of our trust, sacred to our touch. Once we believe in ourselves we can risk curiosity, wonder, spontaneous delight or any experience that reveals the human spirit.

—E. E. Cummings

Love is but the discovery of ourselves in others, and the delight in the recognition.

—Alexander Smith

Birds sing after a storm; why shouldn't people feel as free to delight in whatever remains to them?

—Rose Kennedy

* * *

When I was a child, nothing beat the sheer delight of the ice-cream truck coming down the alley behind our backyard in the summer. The neighborhood kids, my sisters, and I would wait at the grass's edge while straining to hear its tinkling little melody, and I never ceased to marvel at the exotic taste of my favorite flavor—teaberry—as I held the dripping cone in my hand. This word brings to mind the innocence and freedom, the sense of letting go and being truly "in the moment," which seems so easy to achieve when you're young. Wouldn't it be nice to be delighted all the time? We need to recall those teaberry-ice-cream moments more often, to recreate those experiences in our mind and evoke those childlike feelings of delight once again.

* * *

DREAM

DEFINITION:

(verb) to anticipate vaguely as a coming and happy reality; to have a visionary notion or idea; to imagine; to see, or have a vision of, in sleep, or in idle fancy. (noun) a sleeping vision.

ETYMOLOGY:

German traum, from Teutonic dreugan, to deceive. Icelandic draugr, a ghost.

* * *

QUOTATIONS

Some look at things that are, and ask why? I dream of things that never were, and ask why not?

—George Bernard Shaw

Every great dream begins with a dreamer. Always remember, you have within you the strength, the patience and the passion to reach for the stars to change the world.

—Harriet Tubman

There are some people who live in a dream world, and there are some who face reality; and then there are those who turn one into the other.

—Douglas Everett

* * *

I dream every night and usually remember my dreams upon awakening, even if only for a brief moment or two. When I was very depressed though, my dreaming stopped. At that point the thoughts that I consciously generated while I was awake—notions of hope, possibilities, forgiveness, worthiness—assumed a much greater importance than my dreams. Slowly I realized that, with enough effort, conscious dreams can become reality. We don't need to search for magical answers while we sleep. Once I made progress on my path of self-improvement, I began to dream again. This didn't solve my problems in a fairy-tale fashion, but it gave me back the sense of being myself. I know that the dreams we generate, whether we're asleep or awake, can provide comfort, familiarity, hope, support, and sometimes—if there's a ghostly encounter—maybe even a good laugh.

* * *

POSSIBLE

DEFINITION:

capable of existing or occurring, or of being conceived or thought of; able to happen; capable of being done; not contrary to the nature of things.

ETYMOLOGY:

Latin possum (short for potissum) from potis, powerful, properly "lord" or "master."

* * *

QUOTATIONS

Hold on with a bulldog grip, and chew and choke as much as possible.

—Abraham Lincoln

Be kind whenever possible. It is always possible.

—Dalai Lama

Nothing is impossible. The word itself says "I'm possible."

—Audrey Hepburn

* * *

When I look back on my life, it seems clear that I put a "not possible" stamp on many things, including my own potential and abilities. Early on in my career I avoided this word when caring for sick people, believing that the hard facts of medicine and science were immutable and a requisite part of a winning game plan. Unproven approaches weren't an option, and good outcomes were simply not possible for certain conditions. As time went by, though, I quickly revised my methods to include the idea of possibility. Finding solutions to a problem became more creative and fruitful. Little did I know that this change was a gift to myself—the very concept that I'm possible—allowing me to give more to others in the process.

* * *

GENEROSITY

DEFINITION:

the quality of being noble; liberality in giving; munificence.

ETYMOLOGY:

Latin, generosus, of noble birth.

* * *

QUOTATIONS

Generosity is not giving me that which I need more than you do, but it is giving me that which you need more than I do.

—Khalil Gebran

It takes generosity to discover the whole through others. If you realize you are only a violin, you can open yourself up to...