Two of the joys of writing in English are the flexibility and playfulness of the language. French is a beautiful language and I cherish my mother-tongue, but it is much more difficult and frowned upon to take liberties with it. Of course, English grammar is not to meddle with and I do my best not to, well, when I know the rules that is – sadly there is still much room for improvement there. However, with English words, I am having a ball!
When reading How to be both, by Ali Smith, I noted how she used the word maze as a verb with a meaning more comp
lex than being lost or confused. Something mazed a teenager girl in the sense of putting her mind on the path of a labyrinth she had to work out the exit for. Whether or not it is an original use of the word, I wouldn’t know. What mattered were the diversity and openness in the use of the word. Shakespeare did it best. We owe his creative mind so many terms still in use today. English has an eternal young soul!
In my writings, I love when an opportunity arises to come up with a word of my own (please note, I do not claim credit for them, someone might have used them in that sense before. I just have no idea). Bluesbuster and Moodbooster, or again Optimiseur are a some of them regularly in my posts. In my opinion, they perfectly express the feeling, idea, thought or spirit of the message I wished to communicate.
Then recently, organising my bookshelves by theme (then second in alphabetical order – that’s my optimiseur side all right…), I pondered how to catalogue the books centered around faiths, psychotherapy, spirituality, and self-discovery. For me, they all belong together as a work on oneself and one’s focus and beliefs in life. Then it came alive in my mind with one word!
So I hereby proudly introduce you to my latest favorite word: Psyritual.
It encompasses nicely the subjects linked to self-awareness and work on the mind and spirit, on psychoanalysis and on religions. It even emphasises that in all of these practices – prayers, meditations, analysis – rituals are often used to create a context and prepare the individual for the self-elevation. In fact, for a good hour, thinking about the word psyritual itself made me drift on a river of many currents of thoughts, most of them relative to the various philosophies of life.
The power of words really never ceases to amaze me, especially when one just created or discovered can unravel so much and make you travel a thousand miles in your own living room.
And you, what is your favorite made-up word?
Thank you for reading,
X Virginie