I’ve heard it said that if you learn a new language, you change your soul. I’ve seen this in action, watching as one of my trilingual friends adopts three separate, yet somehow connected, personalities as he cycles through the languages he speaks. It’s like watching someone being possessed by the soul of three people.
The wider implication of this phenomenon suggests that language might create our reality; it might shape us. Language can be used to control, to bond, and it is of paramount importance in creating cultures. To paraphrase the late great Terrance McKenna, culture is the shockwave that shudders behind the reality cut by language. It intrigues me to know that some languages don’t have a word for depression or insomnia; it intrigues me even more to know that words like schizophrenia have distinctly different meanings in different cultures. I wouldn’t be the first to wonder if the anxiety created by such a diagnosis might not exactly be the most helpful.
Still, this is another, bigger subject, and perhaps I’ll need a lot more space to explore it. Right now, I’m concentrating on adding a handful of words to my current language in the hope that it will help lift my soul a little, to get closer to my fellow human beings, to have a clearer lens through which to view the world. I’m concentrating on two German words for now. There may well be more to follow.
Freudenfreude
Essentially, it’s taking joy in other people’s fortune. Think about all the really big wins you’ve had in your life. For me it’s easy: meeting my current partner, the birth of my children, a loved one who was ill getting better, getting an agent and first book deal, and then some of the things that have come with being part of the Association of Foragers. I can count them on one hand and its only about one a decade.
Now if I start to include the big wins my friends and family have had, I get monthly big wins. There ends up being so much joy to be had. What’s more, sharing someone’s win is really rather nice for them too. Whatsmore it cancels out any negative emotions you might have accidentally had. It’s hard to be jealous through joy.
Try it next time you doom scroll, next time your moan to yourself - even just a little bit - about why that one person might have done better than you. Just think about how happy that person is in their own joy and let them not just own it, rejoice in it. It’s like a muscle; it might not come easy, but the more you do it, the easier and more enjoyable it becomes.
My life has been infinitely better for doing so and I think it’s made me a better friend too.
Waldeinsamkeit
Sort of means solitude in the forest or alone in the woods and by doing so, being at one with the universe.
I decided to take my notepad off to a nearby stretch of woodland somewhere on the edge of Bristol in order to write about this. To put it into practice.
The brightness of the summer sun was dappling through the maze of sycamore leaves above me. Dragons tongue ferns littered the forest floor in front of me, splayed out like the forest had presented me with its own brand of evergreen bouquets. I could feel something of the character of this stretch: cozy, welcoming, gentle, and untamed, like the cluttered kitchen of a treasured aunt. I felt nurtured, filled up with the effervescence of the forest.
Recharged.
Again, this has become something of a practice for me. I try to do this on a weekly basis; the responsibilities of work and family get in the way, and in reality, I only get to practice Waldeinsamkeit twice a month. But it’s enough. Enough to find contentment and enough to practice freudenfreude with less effort.
Both words help me to make a utopia out of now without the want for more; more followers, likes, money, or more attention.
I hope this has been enough for you until the next time I write. If not, maybe take a walk to the nearest woods. As ever, thanks for reading. I appreciate you more than you realise.
Ironically, I could do with a top up this morning too! Actually, I'll make sure I get some hammock time looking up at our walnut and I've moved my desk to face our garden too... little bits like that help too I'm sure. Hope you feel more connected soon.
Thank you for sharing, I’m defo lacking in Waldeinsamkeit at the moment and I can feel it!