Category: meaning

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Adjectives

If you were offered the opportunity to choose a set of adjectives to describe yourself, what would they be?

Maybe like me, you’re a little foggy about the meaning of the word, adjective. Here’s a bit of help.

An adjective is a word that modifies or describes a noun (a word used to identify a person, place, or thing) or pronoun (identifying a specific person, place, or thing).

Adjectives can be used to describe the qualities of someone or something independently or in comparison to something else. For example, my sister is older than me (not that she admits it freely) or Einstein was smarter than the average scientist.

So much for the grammar lesson (not my favorite, and maybe not yours either).

So, back to my original question. What words did you choose? And, perhaps even more interesting, why did you choose the words you did? If you were asked, are they words you believe currently apply to you or maybe they are ones you’d like to apply to you in the future.

I remember once in high school, I found a long list of adjectives and decided to ask several of my friends to check off which ones they felt described me. I’m not sure if I tried to choose the ones I thought applied to me or just reacted to the ones they chose.

It was enlightening to run through their lists and compare them with each other and with what I thought about myself. As I recall, not all of them were ‘positive’ words, meaning I didn’t like the way they felt to me. Some of them were downright objectionable, but most I thought were pretty nice and I came away feeling good about myself.

I wonder what would happen if I repeated this exercise today?

Would I take it personally if I didn’t like all of the words they chose? Would it alter how I felt about them? Or how they felt about me?

How prepared would I be to accept their view? How prepared would they be to give me an honest assessment?

Sometimes we don’t want to know what other folks are thinking about us. It could be too threatening, and it could expose our vulnerabilities, bringing them to the surface. I think very few people would willingly choose to want that.

If you’ve been with me for a while, you know I always do whatever I’m asking you to do, so here’s my list.

Self-reliant, resourceful, loving, caring, helpful, creative, organized, funny (both intentional and unintentional), devoted, headstrong, resistant to authority, driven, too concerned about what others think, a dreamer.

I realize it’s a mixed bag and probably always will be. Notice I didn’t add the word, ‘perfect’. I acknowledge that there will always be room for me to improve (in my eyes and others) and grow and learn. I accept this as the truth.

What do you think your list says about you? Are there some hints available to you? And, now that you’ve done this once, might you want to repeat it and see what changes?

It dawned on me that my list contains words that came out of traumas in my life, especially the first two (self-reliant and resourceful). Something about my upbringing and adaptation to my cultural training encouraged (or the word could be, ‘forced’) me to look inward for my own guidance and support. I felt I could not entirely trust that I would be taken care of in all the ways I thought I needed, so I decided to be my own ‘boss’ and resolve whatever problems came my way, largely without the help of others.

It’s funny to me how, taking a good look at the adjectives I chose, they shed a great deal of light on how I live in this world and the decisions and choices I make. I wonder, is the same true for you

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Winning In The Margins

I will make this assessment about me, and you can see if it might apply to you also…

I take things for granted.

No matter how attuned I am, I recognize I overlook the significance of certain people and events in my life. I don’t mean to. There’s just so much going on all the time, I find it impossible to pay close enough attention to everything.

I even miss some of the big stuff.

I wonder, is there a way to focus better, to pay attention and appreciate all the beautiful things in my life?

Part of me realizes how overwhelming this would be. And how impractical.

Many years ago, I read a book by Richard Paul Evans titled, The Five Things A Millionaire Taught Me. It made a huge impression on me. Richard’s basic premise was that we’re not very observant about opportunities in our lives. We make assumptions about what we can and cannot do. And financially, we form beliefs about what we can and cannot have in our lives based on the amount of money we possess.

Through his association with a millionaire, Richard’s eyes were opened to a new way of observing the world and he expanded his beliefs about how he could experience his life, especially as it related to his finances. He called his system, Winning In The Margins.

Reading his book opened new avenues for me too. I decided to take small steps toward an audacious goal.

I began on August 15, 2014, with the idea that I would set aside amounts of money I otherwise would have spent without taking any notice. I collected the extra one-dollar bills stuffed into my wallet, set aside birthday and Christmas money given to me, saved the equivalent value of coupons for places like CVS pharmacy. (I would tell myself that I saved money by using the coupons, therefore I could put aside those funds for this project). I wrapped coin, redeemed my reward points, cashed in some US Savings Bonds, funneled garage sale earnings and lot of other saving methods.

I tracked everything and recorded it on a spreadsheet so that I always knew where I stood relative to my goal.

After one full year I’d saved over five thousand dollars, exceeding the aim I’d set for myself.

I learned that lots and lots of little thing amount to meaningful big things.

I’ve continued this practice and on occasion, with my wife’s consent have included some investment dividends into the mix. This would have allowed us to accumulate over thirteen thousand dollars in the past nine years.

I say ‘would have’ because we don’t have the money anymore. That’s because all the little things became big things. They amounted to something powerful and so we decided to give all the money away. We donated it, sending it back into the world.

There is no shortage of worthy causes in this world of ours and we felt a desire to use the funds to support others. There are so many that have so little.

I’m not sharing this to impress you or brag about what we’ve done. I’m sharing this because I want you to know how powerful YOU are. Anyone who wants to, can do the same thing or something similar.

I believe this is a fact and it feels good to think we can each change the world for the better. Maybe not the whole world, but at least some part of it.

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Important ‘INGs’

I love words.

Sure, there are exceptions (like vomit or cancer) but on the whole I think words are magical, wonderful, and powerful.

Lately I’ve been drawn to words ending in the letters ‘ing’ and noticing how they impact my life. Maybe you have your own favorite ‘ing’ words.

I thought I’d share some of mine and see if they are already on your list, or perhaps they are words you’d like to add, because you see some value for yourself.

I’ll start with ‘sleeping’. Lately I’ve been paying much more attention to my physical being and realize now how dramatically important it is for me to get a decent amount of sleep and at the optimal time. Previously, I thought I could get by on 6 hours of sleep but have come to understand how this devalues and depletes me. Sleep sets the stage for everything else I experience in life, so I’ve decided to make it a priority.

‘Eating’ is my next word. For a long time, I’ve been wondering if there was a better way for me to eat. Not only how much, but when and what foods in specific. I suppose everyone shifts and changes over their life to some degree, but I feel I need to be more careful in the selection of what I eat. I’m not looking to stir up a wide-ranging conversation about what’s the best or most beneficial plan, just what’s best for me.

I’ve also been considering what forms of exercising are in my body’s best interest. I’m inviting my innate wisdom to help me decide. Is it stretching, strengthening or something else. Perhaps it is a combination of things. The important point seems to be, to do something to keep myself active and in shape. Fortunately, there are tons of people and resources to assist me.

Not everything I’m considering is about my physical body. I’m also aware of and interested in my feelings. Do I allow myself the freedom to feel or does my thinking mind take over everything? I don’t want to bypass my feelings because they are critically important to a holistic approach to my life. And they assist in guiding me and the directions I choose to take in life.

One of the most undervalued aspects of my life is resting. It’s a big challenge for me because I am such a ‘doer’. I seem to be in constant motion and often don’t balance that with replenishing rest. It needs to be more of a priority for me and I’d profit from allowing and encouraging myself to believe in the value of downtime and a good rest.

Dreaming is something I’m really good at. I have huge dreams and I’m capable and highly motivated to turn my dreams into my reality. I give myself permission to have creative dreams without limits, kind of a brainstorming approach where you allow everything to come forward without judgement or evaluation. This sets my dreams free and allows a birth to take place. What you are reading right now (this post and the website it comes from) came about as a result of one of my big dreams.

Of course, there are many, many more.

Working, thinking, writing, walking, believing, experiencing…the list goes on and on. Yours probably does too. Someday it would be fun to compare lists.

As I was writing this post I wondered if there was one ‘ing’ that tied things together for me and a beautiful word popped up…living.

It creates a host of thoughts and feelings. How long do I want to live? What sort of quality life do I want to live? What experiences do I want to have?

I don’t have answers to all of my questions…I’m still considering.

Fortunately, I don’t feel that I need to know everything. The day-to-day journey is so fantastic, I’m just happy to be along for the ride. I hope you enjoyed reading this