Words, words, words

  A little bit of linguistic exploration brought in by my Qigong teacher. 

 I said in Italian, “Vorrei di fermare questo”. (I want to stop this) referring to my habit of negative thinking. 

 She corrected me, “No fermare – trasformare, c’e un differenza.” (Not stop – transform). 

It stayed with me not only as a beautiful observation but as a bit of linguistic magic as well. Simply by adding the prefix tras, she changed the only possible action into infinite possibilities: "fermare" into "trasformare". When we stay “stop” we evoke prohibition, and don’t leave any opportunity for discussion or a choice. When we transform something - an open endlessness comes into play, and there are multiple choices. So, I have been thinking about it and the little illustration in drawings was born… 

Note: Italian isn’t my first language – I just happen to live in Rome. Of course, English isn’t my native language either – I just happen to exist in it.