adjective, well known from long or close association

The people we spend the majority of our time with can easily become “familiar.”  We’ve been friends for so long that we know everything about that person. We know exactly how they will react to a certain situation. Oftentimes, we can mouth words they will say before they even speak them. We know their idiosyncracies, pet peeves, catch phrases, and favorite things. Laughter can erupt from across the room at a party, and their giggle is easily identifiable without even looking for them. Familiar is good, but familiar can prevent us from truly appreciating a person.

That’s where today’s word gift comes in. A word cloud is a visible collection of words arranged in random order and shape which creates new word pairings, enabling readers to see connections not previously seen. Creating a word cloud can help us see a person not just as a jumble of descriptive words, but as word pairings that truly describe them in a way we had not recognized before.

Check out the example of one I did just with random words from my blog yesterday. (Pictured above). I saw so many new word connections for the concept of word gifts. Here’s a few:

• “days without words” – are wasted days when we don’t tell someone we love them.
• “writing giving” – that’s what we do when we write out our word gifts
• “soul honey”  – reminder that word gifts are soothing to a soul
• “necessary gifts” – words that bring life are always necessary and can be for anyone

What a great way to see a part of life or someone you love in a new way! Wanna create a word cloud for someone special?  Here are the steps:

1. Create a list of words that describe the person: their personality, their physical traits, their likes, their talents, things you love about them, etc. (Pull out a thesaurus to get really creative.)
2. Visit wordle.net and follow the online instructions. (You can change the layout and the colors as well. If you don’t like the first cloud you get, click randomize and you’ll get a whole new one.)
3. Be sure to print out your treasure and give it away.

I want to hear about what you created. Check back in and let me know what new discovery you made. I can’t wait to hear about it!!!!!