Word of the day – “glisk” – a glitter of sunlight; a glow of heat from a fire; a glint or twinkle in a person’s eye. Figuratively, a glimpse of the good, a brief burst of warmth or hope. (Scots; esp. Shetland, archaic) from the twitter feed of Robert Macfarlane, author
I will be the first to admit I’m not very good at Twitter. I’m inconsistent. I’m almost as bad with Facebook. I tend to scroll the feed, but unless I have something worth saying – at least in my opinion – I tend to be sporadic in sharing.
A word of the day
Somewhere along the twitter-y way, though, I was introduced to a writer named Robert Macfarlane. He tweets a ‘word of the day’, almost always a word I’m unfamiliar with and almost always a word that strikes some sort of chord within.
Today’s word, glisk, set off a persistent chiming in my heart; a glitter of sunlight; a glimpse of the good, a brief burst of warmth or hope. Isn’t it a beautiful, magnificent, inspiring word?
Imagine
Imagine the last time you walked through a deep, dark forest and suddenly there’s a gap in the canopy above. A single shaft of sunlight beams down, lighting up a patch of the forest floor. The air glitters with dust motes rising. You step from the coolness of the shadows into the warmth of that bright beam. You pause in your wandering and lift your face to the light, closing your eyes, and seeing the orange-yellow brightness behind your eyelids. Joy seeps through you and you smile.
Glisk.
Imagine that the deep, dark forest isn’t a forest at all, but your life. Maybe not all of your life, but a time – a day, a week, a month – that seems filled with shadows. You feel dark, alone, misunderstood. Sad. Suddenly someone crosses your path and they offer you a heartfelt, sincerely given word of kindness. Maybe it’s a compliment or some much needed encouragement. And those words, given with love, sink into you, traveling through your ears and your brain straight into your heart like a crystal ray of hope. Joy seeps through you and you smile.
Glisk.
It’s the simple things in life
What gives you that feeling of warmth and hope? What is it that makes you feel as though you’ve seen a glimpse of what is still good in the world?
The unrestrained laughter of a little child.
The first song of a robin in spring.
The scent of lilac blossoms on a summer breeze.
Whispered “I love you’s” from your beloved.
The triumphant story of an over comer.
A simple compliment.
A sunrise.
A sunset.
A shooting star.
I find that when I can step back and sweep away the complications, clear away the excess noise, it is something simple that restores me. One shining moment of sunlight in a shadowy forest can give me enough courage to keep walking.
Sometimes it’s one word – from My Sweet, from a friend, from my Twitter feed – one word can make all the difference.
Glisk.
Love and light…
P.S. Special thanks for the sunbeam photo to Dawid Sobolewski on Unsplash
That was pure poetry! Such a beautiful post.
What gives me that feeling? The joyful abandon of a playful puppy, so in the moment, oblivious to anything outside of it. No worries of judgments being cast upon it. Pure warmth and hope.
That’s a lovely image Viv! Thank you!
[…] A glimpse of goodness […]