{"id":1493,"date":"2022-12-06T10:09:55","date_gmt":"2022-12-06T16:09:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tomabate.com\/ruminations\/?p=1493"},"modified":"2022-12-06T12:10:19","modified_gmt":"2022-12-06T18:10:19","slug":"book-review-nine-words-to-change-your-outlook-about-changing-the-world","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tomabate.com\/ruminations\/book-review-nine-words-to-change-your-outlook-about-changing-the-world\/","title":{"rendered":"Book review: Nine ‘Wonder Words’ to change your outlook about changing the world."},"content":{"rendered":"

Globalization has expanded the collective wisdom of humankind by pooling words from thousands of languages. Author Lucy Turner has chosen nine of them as the basis for \u201c9 Wonder Words: A Language for Living Well\u2014Even When All Hell Breaks Loose<\/em>,\u201d a 178-page prescription for how to derive joy and purpose from doing your part to make the world better.<\/p>\n

As a career United Nations civil servant, Turner has worked with people in some of the world\u2019s most troubled regions. How have Haitians endured the woes that have beset them since they were taken forcibly from Africa to the Caribbean? Poze<\/em>, <\/strong>or poo-zay<\/em> as it is pronounced in the slow and easy cadence consistent with the word\u2019s meaning: to calm down, assess a situation, and consider what can be done to make it better. \u201cHaitians, perhaps more than most people on our planet, have to bring an almost unimaginable level of creativity to the daily challenge of surviving and finding something to smile about,\u201d Turner writes.<\/p>\n

In Wonder Words,<\/em> Turner invites us to view challenges as opportunities to say \u201cAlhamdulillah<\/strong>\u201d (al-ham-du-lil-lah), an Arabic prayer that can acknowledge how some good must eventually flow from any event that was the will of Allah.<\/p>\n

She argues that \u201cthe words we use \u2013 the ones we say to ourselves and to each other \u2013 can rewire our brains, shape our lives, and change the world.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

As a global synonym for hope Turner chooses Tinogona,<\/em><\/strong> as the Shona people of Zimbabwe express their belief that nothing is unachievable. \u201cHuman progress,\u201d writes Turner, \u201cis a story of the realization of the crazy ideas of people who believed they could, and you can be one of them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Turner suggests that skeptics and pessimists banish their disbelief by saying Abracadabra,<\/em><\/strong> a Hebrew word that means \u201cI create as I speak.\u201d She argues that \u201cthe words we use \u2013 the ones we say to ourselves and to each other \u2013 can rewire our brains, shape our lives, and change the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

But not at the snap of a finger. Change often takes years of Tu\u2019u-lun<\/em> <\/strong>or working together in the Tetun language of East Timor. \u201cDarwin was wrong,\u201d Turner writes. \u201cCollaboration, not competition is the driving force of human evolution, and our current rate of progress is, as ever, a function of our level of collaboration.\u201d<\/p>\n

To learn patience Turner advises change-seekers to cultivate Gozar<\/em><\/strong>, the Latin American Spanish word to describe work that feels so delightful that we lose track of time. She suggests exercising our altruistic impulses by practicing Mudita,<\/em><\/strong> the Sanskrit verb for taking vicarious pleasure in the happiness of others. \u201cMudita <\/em>is the reason volunteers talk with conviction about how \u2018they gave me more than I gave them\u2019,\u201d she writes.<\/p>\n

Wonder Words<\/em> taught me that I\u2019d been a lifelong practitioner of Blether,<\/em><\/strong> the Scottish word for engaging in casual conversation driven by curiosity and a genuine interest in others. Turner, a citizen of the world by vocation but a Scot by upbringing, has a penchant for blethering<\/em> herself as we discovered to our mutual delight when a chance encounter nearly a decade ago led her to share the vision that the book articulates.<\/p>\n

Wonder Word’s<\/em> acknowledgments include me among the confidants who encouraged her to finish the book by seizing the most powerful of the nine words \u2013 Parole,<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0which might translate as the French for self-empowerment. \u201cLa parole<\/em> (is) a reminder of the power you possess somewhere around your throat area,\u201d Turner writes. \u201c(It) is an invitation for you to speak up, no matter what accent you have or what language you use. Speak up, knowing that what you have to say, how you see things, and what you want is a jewel of inestimable value. As indeed, are you.\u201d<\/p>\n

9 Wonder Words: A Language for Living Well\u2014Even When All Hell Breaks Loose, was reissued on November 23rd, 2022, under ISBN 1734840080.<\/em><\/p>\n

Wor(l)d: One Woman\u2019s Discovery of the Power of Words, was originally published on December 4th<\/sup>, 2021, under ISBN <\/em>1734840013.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Thank you for your attention. To share an idea, make a comment, or ask a question, please use the contact box to the left.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

People everywhere have found words to express the intentions that inspire them to act. Make yourself more powerful and satisfied by learning how to use them.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1477,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1493","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nBook review: Nine 'Wonder Words' to change your outlook about changing the world. - Tomabate<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/tomabate.com\/ruminations\/book-review-nine-words-to-change-your-outlook-about-changing-the-world\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Book review: Nine 'Wonder Words' to change your outlook about changing the world. - Tomabate\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"People everywhere have found words to express the intentions that inspire them to act. 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