WORDPLAY: Vocab Rehab with Marcia Singer
This Month’s Word
ANAM CARA (aw-nawm caw-raw)
First appeared in Upbeat Times
https://content.yudu.com/Library/A21...edit_mode%3Don
While February’s calendar marks the Chinese New Year, Lincoln’s and Washington’s birthdays and Presidents Day, it’s the giving and receiving of valentines, sentiments and demonstrations of Love that’s my focus. A word to expand our love vocabulary comes from the Gaelic tongue, a beautiful expression, anam cara, that means ‘soul mate.’ But if this brings to mind young lovers walking on the beach hand-in-hand, or a misty-eyed couple celebrating their fiftieth wedding anniversary over a glass of champagne –think farther. Anam is the Gaelic word for soul, and cara means friend. Together they say “friend of the soul,” and not only include lovers destined to be together, but others who care for each other unconditionally. Anam caras can be best friends, companions and compatriots, kindred spirits or special pals who always have each other’s backs. And soul friends are not dependent upon living in close proximity, either. Whenever hearts and minds join in this way, time and space are irrelevant. Soul mates are all about deep devotion and trust, connections and ties not easily broken. A friend of the soul opens your heart and lingers there through thick and thin, ‘til the end –or even after.
The late author, poet and philosopher, John O-Donohue says in his deeply touching and thought-provoking book, Anam Cara: A Book of Celtic Wisdom, that in the Celtic traditions, friendship and soul are entwined. He writes, “In the sacred kinship of love [and friendship], two souls are twinned” --taking the idea of ‘twin souls’ to a new level. To be soul sisters or brothers or lovers and mates suggests you’ve really let each other in close, to the innermost places. And once there, you’ve found a safe haven. There’s no need to hide. It’s safe to come out, reveal secrets, breathe freely. You are intimately known, understood, accepted. You feel at home.
--Which can easily translate to the “play-mate” operating mode. Your anam cara can be your most reliable match for play time, be it a rousing or a quiet-type experience. In studying Play for many years and teaching comedic improvisation, I found that it’s the friendship, innocence and open-heartedness brought to any activity that makes it a joy –a sense of anam cara literally at play. Trusting one another, we can be spontaneous, off guard, even risk looking foolish, releasing the performance anxieties that stifle fun. With an attitude of soul friendship, our creativity and imagination get stoked: It’s Improv all the way. We reap the benefits of just letting go and enjoying being alive this very moment with someone who ‘gets’ us.
Who are the anam caras in your own life? With whom can you speak the deep language of love and caring, feel soulful presence? With my soul friends, there’s a sacred quality of relating even the most mundane things, because we share an honesty that let us be truly seen, heard and felt. It’s both glorious and humbling. This month, join me in appreciating our own anam caras in clear, dear and imaginative ways, all month long,.
Shine delight,
Marcia