Three of my most favorite words

Words are kind of perplexing to me. Sometimes they’re scarcely floating around in my mind with seemingly no purpose, and sometimes I’m thinking of way too many that are way too important. They’re occasionally hard to understand, while others are grasped so effortlessly it’s almost magical.

The shortened definition of a word is, “ a single distinct meaningful element of speech or writing”. I’ve never actually researched the definition of a word before this moment, and i suppose it was what i expected it to be. Words are indeed both distinct and meaningful. What seems contradictory to me, though, is that without actions or emotion to back them up, they’re meaningless. Words are meaningful yet meaningless, all at the same time. *insert brain implosion here*

This is probably something we’ve all experienced before. The saying, “ actions speak louder than words” is simply drilled into our brains by now. There are plenty of people out there who are always saying things just to say them, or because they think it’s we want to hear. There have been too many empty “ I’m sorry’s” or “ I love you’s” or “ I promise’s”. Words don’t have a good enough reputation to stand alone.

I guess words seem to be kind of sad when looked at that way. But of course, they’re not all bad. Think about the lyrics in your favorite song, or maybe quotes in your favorite book. I think those deserve some good credit.

Three of my most favorite words are serendipity, synergy, and bliss. While there are plenty of other great words out there with somewhat similar meanings, if not better ones, these have always stuck out to me.

1. Serendipity: “ the occurrence and development of events by chance in a happy or beneficial way”. I first came across this word about 6 years ago when I watched a movie titled “ serendipity” on Netflix, and i was absolutely in love with it. The word itself, it’s meaning, and the hope that something serendipitous would occur to me in real life all caused me to be so interested by it.
2. Synergy: “ cooperation between two or more individuals that results in a combined effect that is greater than the sum of their individual effects“. (yes, my favorite part is bolded for dramatic effect). People coming together, sharing good energy and connection, while becoming better than they were apart. It doesn’t get much better than that.
3. Bliss: “ perfect happiness; great joy”. Don’t you picture a lot of laughter and yellow and sunshine when reading that? There are probably other specific memories you’re thinking of right now too. I know I’m thinking of a few. “ Perfect happiness”.

It really is amazing, though. That we have the ability to experience these things. Even small pieces of bliss, one moment of serendipity, or synergy with maybe just one person. The fact that words have ever been meaningless and absent of truth is what makes them so meaningful. Kind of funny how that works out.