Have you ever been challenged to describe yourself? What would be the word or phrase that “describes” who you are, or what you do? I’ve been thinking through this one, but honestly, it is very difficult to pick one word or phrase. THEN when you do, you realize that word, or collection of words can be interpreted 86 different ways. However, it doesn’t hurt to do a little self-reflection.
Back in my “leadership days”, I used a phrase quite often, “Live Into”. When I was working with a group of people, my job was generally to help them define who they were personally, or as a group. We would do many exercises to help define, for instance, the purpose of a particular group and the direction that group would take. When the essence of that project was named, I would say, “Now, Live into it!” Meaning, if you have a goal, or hope for the future, you live NOW as if it has already begun to occur.
This is a both fun and frustrating exercise. Helpful, as it brings clarity. Frustrating, as it usually needs interpretation. The end result though is worth the frustration. One of my favorite tools for thinking is called bubbling. You begin with a word or phrase, then simply write words that come to mind. There may be many layers, (thus secondary levels of bubbles). This is done as a brain-dump, in other words, don’t put too much thought into it, just write down what comes to mind. You can return later to refine.
This example is the result of the word GARDEN to give you an idea of how it works:
As you can see, a lot comes up, for instance, Plant leads to tomato, which lead to types of tomatoes, then I would have to add another category called blight because we deal with it here on our land.
Now imagine that you put your name in the center . . . what descriptive words would be in those first bubbles? What else would be added to those first words. Which ones do you really want to describe you? What ones do you want or need to cross off the list? Yes, it’s fun and frustrating! Now, which ones will you “live into”?
Living into is acting as if it already is, therefore becomes reality. Thus one of the reasons I always close with Enjoying the Adventure!
Enjoying the Adventure!
Dr. Dink
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Do you ever find yourself in a position like this? You know, when you realize that you take advantage of the things that make your life easier? What are those things?
Do you see the little spots on the side of the bridge? . . . we shall get to that!
In Love For Ever
This man is a freak. Honestly, that is my word for “most wonderful man in the world.” He’s a guy’s guy kind of a guy. He can fix anything, he loves soccer with a passion, he will drop any “important project” that he’s working on if one of his kids call, or if I ask for some stupid thing that really can wait.
So imagine this morning, I’m currently in a different time zone & he calls, “Are you watching the wedding?” It was 5:30am! So I got up and turned on the television while listening to him telling me about the beauty that was before me. I hear him saying, “I’ve been there.” (And I bet this man’s man kind of a man had a few little tears brewing in his English born eyes).
Roots are powerful. Here in Arizona, our second home-to-be, I’ve been hearing the doves calling out, “who, who, who” and it is strange how it brings me back to my childhood where I heard their call as a little girl. While here, three time zones and 5 decades later, there have been a few moments when I’ve had my eyes closed and I hear those doves and actually see my childhood home, feel the humidity-filled-Southern-New-Jersey air, and smile.
I descend from a line of worldly, quirky, brave, and normal folks –some are still living through their stories. Honestly, I could care less if my ancestors were Italian and Hungarian, English, French and more. My P-pop claimed we were part of the Cherokee Indian tribe too. Oh! The list goes on. I’m proud to have a mixed 
My Great-Grandfather, Mr. George Bunting was an intriguing man. I wish that I could travel back in time to meet him. He served in the United States Navy during the Spanish American War. I am fortunate to have a few of his log books, filled with meticulous notes of what foods and items were used in the ship’s galley. He also kept a personal diary of the ship’s journeys, mostly port to port with the dates they sailed and landed. One day they came across a ship that was sinking and they took the sailors on-board, saving their lives from the treacherous sea. He was a sailor and I call him rebel but that’s not the full story!
downtoearthpositive 