In this episode of the "Words That Make Us" podcast, Rama and Tony discuss the topic of “Home”. Listen to them discuss what constitutes a home and the feelings that come up around the concept of home. Which nationalities and gender tend to own their homes? How can you Feng Shui your home to protect its Qi/Chi? What do stoics say about homes? There are some varied songs and poems by Rumi, Gibran, Mahmoud Darwish, Clive Gregson, Curly Putman and much more!

On Home by Khalil Gibran

https://poets.org/poem/children-1

Stoics on home

https://www.stoic-buddy.com/blog/the-household-stoic

https://viastoica.com/what-does-home-mean/

The Guest House By Rumi

Read by Helena Bonham Carter https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ShNYW2e5ecQ

https://allpoetry.com/poem/8534703-The-Guest-House-by-Mewlana-Jalaluddin-Rumi

Feng shui rules:

https://www.mindbodygreen.com/articles/feng-shui-for-every-room-in-your-home

Homesickness

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homesickness#:~:text=Homesickness%20is%20the%20distress%20caused,on%20topics%20unrelated%20to%20home.

“ID Card” by Mahmoud Darwish Written in 1964

https://www.wrmea.org/2017-november-december/id-card-by-mahmoud-darwish-a-translation-and-commentary.html

Cultural differences in home ownership

https://homeandtexture.com/homeownership-different-countries/

https://medium.com/@cailiansavage1/why-the-richest-countries-have-the-lowest-home-ownership-rates-6dc202a9b81a

https://www.bundesbank.de/en/publications/research/research-brief/2020-30-homeownership-822176

If you have any ideas, suggestions or feedback, please send us an email at: wordsthatmakeus@gmail.com

Season 2, episode 15:

In this episode of the "Words That Make Us" podcast, Rama and Tony discuss the topic of “Sickness”. This promises to be an episode of fun discussions, varied readings of pain and hilarity, and a few statistics to boot! They discuss questions such as: why do men not go to the doctor’s? Can prayer really relieve pain? What poems, depressing and funny alike, have they found for you? And what are some funny stories doctors have told about patients? Also, what would Marcus Aurelius say about sickness if he was alive today?

Men don’t go to the doctor

Dr Gabor Mate on addiction

https://www.thesunmagazine.org/articles/23606-what-ails-us

Tulips by Sylvia Plath

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/49013/tulips-56d22ab68fdd0

Sick by Shel Silverstein

https://poets.org/poem/sick

Funny stories by doctors:

https://www.boredpanda.com/funny-doctor-patient-stories/

Stoic response to sickness - an AI Marcus Aurelius response

https://www.stoicsimple.com/stoic-advice-on-health-problems-illness-ask-marcus-aurelius/#:~:text=Instead%20of%20dwelling%20on%20your,the%20natural%20order%20of%20things.

On Pain by Gibran Khalil Gibran

https://poets.org/poem/pain-1

Assisted suicide In Germany

https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/1000135?form=fpf

https://www.dw.com/en/assisted-suicide-germany-weighs-autonomy-and-ethics/a-66111477

In sickness and in health

https://www.structuralheartjournal.org/article/S2474-8706(24)00034-4/fulltext

https://www.diw.de/documents/publikationen/73/diw_01.c.801752.de/diw_sp1110.pdf

Walking Around by Pablo Neruda

https://allpoetry.com/Walking-Around

If you have any ideas, suggestions or feedback, please send us an email at: wordsthatmakeus@gmail.com

In this episode of the "Words That Make Us" podcast, Rama and Tony discuss the topic of “Cake”. Listen to them as they discuss their cake eating and baking preferences all while discussing “Let them eat cake!” and why baking shows became so popular. Would you call the sweet little baked goodness Jaffa cake or biscuits? Why does it matter? And of course, here is some poetry in there for you!

No one said “Let them eat cake”!

https://www.britannica.com/story/did-marie-antoinette-really-say-let-them-eat-cake

Betty Crocker cake mix story

https://cantrell.medium.com/the-myth-of-the-instant-cake-mix-a45aaac8b302

https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/something-eggstra/

Chocolate Cake by Michael Rosen

https://www.uv.mx/personal/jomartinez/files/2011/08/Chocolate-Cake.pdf

The most difficult cakes to make:

https://www.findcourses.co.uk/inspiration/hobby-fun-leisure-articles/how-to-make-the-worlds-most-difficult-cakes-17573

Simnel cake

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simnel_cake

The Jaffa Cake Story

https://www.kerseys.co.uk/jaffa-cakes-cakes-biscuits/#:~:text=During%20the%20court%20battle%20between,recognised%20as%20chocolate%20covered%20cakes.

Cake idioms

https://www.ihpalermo.com/Cake-Biscuit-Idioms

https://www.poetrysoup.com/famous/poem/sisters_cake_605

Cake by Roger Mcgough

https://allpoetry.com/poem/14373247-Cake-by-Roger-McGough

If you have any ideas, suggestions or feedback, please send us an email at: wordsthatmakeus@gmail.com

In this episode of the "Words That Make Us" podcast, Rama and Tony discuss the topic of “Betrayal”. Listen to them as they discuss the different types of betrayal whether in relationships, in a relation to one’s country of oneself. They discuss statistics about cheating from different countries as well as how it is regarded in stoicism, the Quran and the Bible. There is poetry from different eras and perspectives too!

Countries with highest infidelity rate:

https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/infidelity-rates-by-country

Is it emotional cheating?

https://health.clevelandclinic.org/emotional-cheating

Medusa by Carol Ann Duffy

https://genius.com/Carol-ann-duffy-medusa-annotated

Betrayal in the Quran

https://submission.org/friday_betrayal.html#:~:text=Those%20elements%20might%20be%20summarized,and%20be%20among%20the%20truthful.

We Who Are Your Closest Friends by Phillip Lopate

https://poets.org/poem/we-who-are-your-closest-friends

Dictionary Definition

https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/betrayal#:~:text=Betrayal%20means%20%22an%20act%20of,someone's%20trust%2C%20possibly%20by%20lying.

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/betrayal

Betrayal in the bible

https://renew.org/betrayal-in-the-bible/

Betrayal in Shakespeare

https://nosweatshakespeare.com/blog/top-shakespearean-betrayals/

Famous cases of betrayal in history

https://www.voxnews.al/english/histori/25-tradhtite-qe-ndryshuan-rrjedhen-e-historise-i18600

https://www.watchmojo.com/articles/top-10-most-ruthless-betrayals-in-all-of-history/vidkun-quisling

Judas Goats on Galapagos Islands

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/culture/article/on-the-galapagos-the-betrayal-of-judas-goats

Farewell, Ungrateful Traitor! John Dryden

https://allpoetry.com/Farewell-Ungrateful-Traitor

Sonnet 142 by William Shakespeare

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/56226/sonnet-142-love-is-my-sin-and-thy-dear-virtue-hate

If you have any ideas, suggestions or feedback, please send us an email at: wordsthatmakeus@gmail.com

In this episode of the "Words That Make Us" podcast, Rama and Tony discuss the topic of “Sarcasm”, or should we say wit? Humour? Verbal irony? Listen to them as they discuss the nuances in these terms all while reading poetry, research and some (soft) science and statistics.

Culture and Social Status

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/0163853X.2023.2252695#abstract

A Modest Proposal for Preventing the Children of Poor People from Being a Burthen to their Parents, or the Country, and for Making Them Beneficial to the Publick by Jonthan Swift

https://www.gutenberg.org/files/1080/1080-h/1080-h.htm

Psychology of Sarcasm

negatives

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/and-running/202012/behind-the-scenes-sarcasm

https://www.harleytherapy.co.uk/counselling/what-sarcasm-means.htm

positives

https://www.forbes.com/sites/traversmark/2024/02/09/a-psychologist-explains-the-irresistible-appeal-of-sarcasm/

https://www.apa.org/monitor/may05/sarcasm

https://www.inc.com/jessica-stillman/why-sarcastic-people-are-more-successful.html

Sarcastic TV characters

https://www.storypick.com/hurting-your-stomach/

https://www.poetrynook.com/poem/rational-anthem

If you have any ideas, suggestions or feedback, please send us an email at: wordsthatmakeus@gmail.com

In this episode of the "Words That Make Us" podcast, Rama and Tony discuss the topic of “Trees”. Listen to them as they discuss the fascinating mechanisms trees use to grow and survive. What are the oldest trees in the world? Which countries have the most trees and which countries are planting and cutting down trees? How do trees appear in religion, culture and literature? All these questions (and many more) will be answered.

When Autumn Came - Faiz Ahmed Faiz 1911-1984

https://poets.org/poem/when-autumn-came

Be by Nizar Qabbani

https://blogs.transparent.com/arabic/nizar-qabbani-the-tree/

The tree of life in Bahrain

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tree_of_Life_(Bahrain)

Oldest Trees in the world

https://www.sciencefocus.com/nature/oldest-tree-in-world

Deforestation in Syria:

https://syriadirect.org/under-the-axe-the-fall-of-daraas-forests-and-fruit-trees/

Dragon Blood tree on the island of Socotra

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/nov/12/saving-dragons-blood-island-refused-let-tree-die-out-socotra-yemen

Poplar Trees are Happiest – by John Russell McCarthy

https://woodlandtrust.tumblr.com/post/690916023263789056/poplar-trees-are-happiest-john-russell-mccarthy

Plant a trillion trees

https://www.plant-for-the-planet.org/trillion-trees/

Tree statistics

https://www.morfo.rest/article/top-30-forested-countries

Alternative search engine

https://www.ecosia.org/?https:/www.ecosia.org%3Ftt%3D2044ca88%26tt%3D2044ca88%26gad_source%3D1&tt=2044ca88&gclid=Cj0KCQjwlvW2BhDyARIsADnIe-LLHIog-ZQyQyYZpGApzW-nhZ8RU7MHLLlAPYJ5XN2jR-fQU7bwbFoaAjUYEALw_wcB

https://poems.com/poem/when-great-trees-fall/

On Marriage (from The Prophet) by Gibran Khalil Gibran

https://poets.org/poem/marriage-3

If you have any ideas, suggestions or feedback, please send us an email at:

wordsthatmakeus@gmail.com

In this episode of the "Words That Make Us" podcast, Rama and Tony discuss the topic of “Patience”. Listen to them as they discern one type of patience from another. Can one be stoically patient in one context and impatient in another? Is patience always a virtue? What can we do when we feel impatient? What have poets from different cultural backgrounds got to say about patience?

Dictionary Definition

https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/patience

The Patience of Job

https://www.gotquestions.org/patience-of-Job.html

Types of patience:

https://www.astrazeneca.com/content/dam/az/PDF/2020/covid-19-toolkit/Patience.pdf

Stoicism as a way to learn patience

https://www.stoicsimple.com/stoicism-as-a-way-to-learn-patience-acceptance-be-calm/

Laughter and Tears IX - Kahlil Gibran

https://www.poetrysoup.com/famous/poem/laughter_and_tears_ix_21303

On his Blindness by John Milton

https://www.owleyes.org/text/on-his-blindness/read/text-poem

The marshmallow experiment debunked

https://anderson-review.ucla.edu/new-study-disavows-marshmallow-tests-predictive-powers/

Most patient animals in the world

https://learningmole.com/most-patient-animals-in-the-world/

Top 10 most patient countries

https://www.sciencefocus.com/the-human-body/top-10-most-patient-countries

https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/cross-country-variation-in-patience?tab=table

https://www.csmonitor.com/Business/2019/0729/Why-wealth-and-patience-appear-to-go-hand-in-hand

Exposure to disaster causes impatience

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2021-03-today-exposure-disaster-impatience-children.html

If you have any ideas, suggestions or feedback, please send us an email at:

wordsthatmakeus@gmail.com

In this episode of the "Words That Make Us" podcast, Rama and Tony discuss the topic of “Light”. Listen to them as they discuss how light is perceived in different cultures. What is Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) and how does it affect us? How did ancient peoples explain the sun and other light-related phenomena? Some great poetry awaits you!

Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)

https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/seasonal-affective-disorder/symptoms-causes/syc-20364651

Silver by Walter de la Mare

https://allpoetry.com/poem/8494557-Silver-by-Walter-de-la-Mare

The light triad

https://www.simplypsychology.org/light-triad-personality.html#:~:text=The%20light%20triad%20consists%20of,narcissism%2C%20Mechiavialinism%2C%20and%20psychopathy.

Myths about Aurora Borealis

https://www.nathab.com/blog/fifteen-native-tales-about-the-northern-lights/

Light and darkness in Romeo and Juliet

https://www.cliffsnotes.com/cliffsnotes/subjects/literature/how-does-shakespeare-use-light-and-darkness-in-romeo-and-juliet

https://www.kidsworldfun.com/learn-english/poem-a-world-of-light.php

Near death experiences and light

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/what-near-death-experiences-reveal-about-the-brain/

Japanese sun goddess Amaterasu

https://www.britannica.com/topic/Amenouzume

Bread, Hashish and Moon by Nizar Qabbani

https://allpoetry.com/Bread,-Hashish-And-Moon

https://poets.org/poem/do-not-go-gentle-good-night

If you have any ideas, suggestions or feedback, please send us an email at:

wordsthatmakeus@gmail.com