full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Emily Esfahani Smith: There's more to life than being happy

Unscramble the Blue Letters

belgoinng, purpose, transcendence, storytelling: those are the four plrials of meaning. When I was younger, I was lucky enough to be surrounded by all of the pillars. My parents ran a Sufi meetinghouse from our home in Montreal. Sufism is a spiritual pcatrcie associated with the whirling dervishes and the poet Rumi. Twice a week, Sufis would come to our home to mtditaee, dinrk Persian tea, and share stories. Their practice also ivneovld serving all of creation through small acts of love, which meant being kind even when ppoele wronged you. But it gave them a purpose: to rein in the ego.

Open Cloze

_________, purpose, transcendence, storytelling: those are the four _______ of meaning. When I was younger, I was lucky enough to be surrounded by all of the pillars. My parents ran a Sufi meetinghouse from our home in Montreal. Sufism is a spiritual ________ associated with the whirling dervishes and the poet Rumi. Twice a week, Sufis would come to our home to ________, _____ Persian tea, and share stories. Their practice also ________ serving all of creation through small acts of love, which meant being kind even when ______ wronged you. But it gave them a purpose: to rein in the ego.

Solution

  1. drink
  2. people
  3. practice
  4. pillars
  5. meditate
  6. belonging
  7. involved

Original Text

Belonging, purpose, transcendence, storytelling: those are the four pillars of meaning. When I was younger, I was lucky enough to be surrounded by all of the pillars. My parents ran a Sufi meetinghouse from our home in Montreal. Sufism is a spiritual practice associated with the whirling dervishes and the poet Rumi. Twice a week, Sufis would come to our home to meditate, drink Persian tea, and share stories. Their practice also involved serving all of creation through small acts of love, which meant being kind even when people wronged you. But it gave them a purpose: to rein in the ego.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations

ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
meaningful life 2
fourth pillar 2

Important Words

  1. acts
  2. belonging
  3. creation
  4. dervishes
  5. drink
  6. ego
  7. gave
  8. home
  9. involved
  10. kind
  11. love
  12. lucky
  13. meaning
  14. meant
  15. meditate
  16. meetinghouse
  17. montreal
  18. parents
  19. people
  20. persian
  21. pillars
  22. poet
  23. practice
  24. purpose
  25. ran
  26. rein
  27. rumi
  28. serving
  29. share
  30. small
  31. spiritual
  32. stories
  33. sufi
  34. sufis
  35. sufism
  36. surrounded
  37. tea
  38. transcendence
  39. week
  40. whirling
  41. wronged
  42. younger