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Julie Babis's avatar

Clean generosity, I love the concept. Especially since I’ve come to realise that coercive control can often be disguised as ‘generosity’ but with strings attached

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Lisa-Marie Cabrelli, Ph.D.'s avatar

So insightful, Julie. I agree with you.

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Ingrid Wagner Walsh's avatar

I love this entire dictionary!! My favorites are fallow period and self-curating. I would love to add an alternative to "gratitude." I wrote a piece last year lamenting the overuse of the word as a cure-all that lacked any real meaning. How about something like, "privilege cognition?" It is different than using the G-word because it doesn't negate the opportunity to also be really pissed off.

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Lisa-Marie Cabrelli, Ph.D.'s avatar

Oh Jeez! That's a good one, Ingrid. But does it make us less grateful? I'll have to think about this one.

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Shelley Karpaty's avatar

I remember when I realized I didn’t have the language to express myself in my 30s! I acted out like a child. And until I took myself to a mindfulness retreat and learned mindful awareness I was extremely unhappy without the words.

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Mary-Brennan Minarovych's avatar

Thank you for sharing this. I love all of our new vocabulary, but what strikes me most is the generosity in your language: not just “selflessness,” but clean generosity itself, the idea of giving freely while knowing your limits. It feels like a gift, both to the reader and to the women you’re inviting into this conversation.

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Lisa-Marie Cabrelli, Ph.D.'s avatar

I think it's something we are all learning in our second coming-od-age, Mary.

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Candidly Midlife's avatar

I love this so much. Re-selfing is such a good one for the parts of us we have erased. thank you for doing the work with starting this dictionary and giving us the language.

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Lisa-Marie Cabrelli, Ph.D.'s avatar

I'll be there are so many more words to add.

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Kelly H.'s avatar

Re-selfing is my absolute favorite! It's a return -- not another chore like "self-discovery"

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Demetria Henderson's avatar

Language really is the first step in transformation. Reclaiming our words feels like reclaiming oxygen where we get to breathe in our own truth again.

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