Thank you for stopping by, I'm astonished by the way, that you're here and reading what #thelittlevoice has to say. Now, how have you read that word?
)A-S-T-O-N-I-S-H
There are so many ways you could have. Did you hear it as a likkle bit sweet and likkle bit sappy? After all, my likklevoice might sound like that.
Or did it sound bored...did you think oh no here goes another one...and instead of me inserted yourself into the word.
A-S-T-O-N-I-S-H-I-N-G!
As if the tone in that wasn't clear enough, did I really need to add an exclamation mark? Boy! YOU were already clear about the R-A-G-E little voice must be feeling. By now!
“When Sleeping Beauty wakes,
she’s almost 50 years old”
I'm astonished how grateful I feel.
Astonished that we've been given a whole week to think about just one word. ONE WORD.
Last week, the word was Digression. This week...ASTONISH!
How beautiful is that? How delightful. How exquisite. How divine. Maybe, read the last one as a question mark and you might be astonished at how you feel.
Breathe it in. Astonish, astonishing, astonished. Good.
Now breathe out. And smile. That's how thelittlevoice sounds. She's working her way down to a slower pace. A slower pace where meditation and deep thinking take place.
I'm looking into a word, one word for a whole week. Where will this word take me? What sweet adventures will I have. Oops! On reading back I noticed that I didn't place a question mark to the end of the sentence and now I'm wondering why... I digress, but it was fun so I wanted to try it again...the little symbol things, you know the punctuation marks they're quite interesting too. —
Are you beginning to see how these little adventures start. One word leading to a whole new story. How will I share them at the end of the week? With you...
Astonishing how grateful I feel.
But what if in the history of this word it was angry? It was hatred? What if it still has the power to hold that energy for some people. I guess, it will.
And now I feel a whole new level of astonishment. It is a noun too. It's earned its right to stand as A THING.
This word has weight. It's not just a flighty 'verb'. It's more solid than an action word, although it still holds to its potential as a doer and a shaker. Occasionally, @youhavewings don't you? A Stone in flight, you become an 'ish'. A stone-ish.
Now wouldn't that be delightful? My flight of fancy for this STRONG word. This weighty word that holds in its power A STONE. Something heavy enough to throw! Again, you see the DANGER of just one word. If we stop and we take the time to be astounded by a THUNDER CLAP we perhaps can see how this word has been thrown into so many directions.
Slow it down again and you can see that it started in the Roman times. It began its life in a different time and place. It probably went back even further than that but we'll deal with one thing at a time. We are going slow after all.
The word used to look different. It started out in a different language to the one you're reading now. That language is dead now...or at least...only the most elite get taught it. So not completely dead. Just that only a small niche of the population are interested in it.
Astonishing to hope. But, that elite is getting smaller and the language is open again for business. You know we live in a time that you can learn Latin and you don't have to go to Eton or somewhere like that? The internet has opened up shop and you can learn Latin anytime you want. You can learn Gaelic too, and you know what? I think that language is possibly as old, if not older, than Latin. Imagine, learning about one word, Astonish, and the journey you might go on learning about it fully.
EX
TONARE
out
to thunder
So not a stone at all. A loud clap of thunder as you stand out in the eye of the storm. What a beautiful beginning. Can you see yourself? Can you see yourself stopping so much that you can feel this word? And know it is the power of nature, mother earth and father sky being heard. A storm brews and a clap of thunder is witnessed.
Stunning, beautiful, delightful, exquisite, divine... see how they run into one another. Breathe it in. Astonish, astonishing, astonished, astonishment. Each hold a history, a journey through time and space. This particular one takes us to the God of Thunder, Zeus.
He was the top guy in the Roman days. His story is one that you should read. He was popular in his day as a deity. Divine, darling. He'd be in Hello Magazine today. If he wasn't from a different time totally. Dude! Or possibly fictional. But hey, that's not right. I don't know which story you want to believe.
He came at a time when people stood in awe of the mighty power of nature. Before him, at the same time, and possibly beyond into the here and now there were others who did and still do see the divine in mother nature.
And perhaps it was in reaction to her POWERFUL words that made Zeus fling his lightning bolt and made THUNDER fill the open sky. As they raged at how the world was turning out.
The open sky while I stand on grass and fling my arms out wide, and sing the sound of music and you now see the mountains in the distance. Astonishing. It's a feeling. An opening of YOU.
Genesis
The Creation of the World
1 In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.2 The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.
3 And God said, "Let there be light", and there was light.4 And God saw that the light was good. And God separated the light from the darkness.5 God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day.
Holy Bible: English Standard Version 2002, Genesis 1.1-5
And there we have the same story for 'astonish' but told yet another way. Each new day is a beginning into the astonishing world where we take ourselves on a unique journey. I hope the few stories I have shared here, or the beginnings of some, were enjoyed. I had so many more during the week, but there is only so many hours in one day. I spent this morning, this Monday morning where I don't have to go to work because I'm on holiday, enjoying sharing thelittlevoice's take on the word A-S-T-O-N-I-S-H.
It's been divine. I'm Jules, Julia, Julie, Mum and so many other names and each have a slightly different take on this world of ours. And so it only goes to show that I would have so many takes on the word astonish too.
I'm looking forward to reading the other writers in the #dropintheocean, reading their inspirational, funny, intelligent, creative selves fall out onto the page and hearing them speak on discord later tonight about this astonishing word.
It's been astonishing!
And it is, isn't it?
BOOM!