it's all good..

When is a strength a weakness and can a weakness ever become a strength?  

This is the question that's been on my mind lately.  Someone very close to me is the personification of determination.  He himself will tell you that he "loves a challenge."  If he deems something worthy of attaining he will do it, he will slay whatever dragon is before him- with sheer will as his weapon of his choice.  However, watching him in action recently, I realized that there is a super fine, gauze-like line between functional determination and uncontrollable compulsion.  

I don't know about you, but I tend to see a compulsion, of any kind really, as a weakness.  If I am truly compulsed to do something, I am not in control, I am unable to think clearly and my compulsion will get in the way of important things like perspective, understanding and relationships.

                                                             image © held by AnnMarie Gitchell, 2012

So, this small observation means big changes for me personally, in the way that I classify my own personality traits.  Instead of a linear dichotomy of strengths vs. weaknesses, in reality it's all relative.  Any one of my quirky or particular characteristics could be a strength or weakness depending on the concentration or the situation or the intention.  

I'm not sure why this feels so earth shattering to me except that this seems to confirm for me what I've always known in my gut- that we    need it all!  There's really no point in parsing it out, no point in labeling traits as good or bad.

For every time I'm upset by my apparent lack of strength- I can easily think of a situation where my vulnerability helped to create a bonding moment with another human being.  Likewise, for every time I feel a little guilty over my stubbornness or slightly unyielding manner, I'm sure my family might have a few comments on this, I can think of a time where that perseverance really paid off.  

What does all this mean for me on a daily basis?  I can sum it up in four words: 
don't eradicate-just modulate!

words to live by...

  image © held by AnnMarie Gitchell, 2012

look wherever you are

  image © held by AnnMarie Gitchell, 2012

Look in the beauty of a flower and in the wonder of a child,
Look in the mundane and look in the wild,
Look in large vistas and look in small spaces,
Look in quiet moments and in familiar faces,
Look without searching, look without care,
Look for the magic- it's everywhere!

happy thoughts from my happy place

  image © held by AnnMarie Gitchell, 2012

Door County, Wisconsin

Happy Birthday America!

dream board

I am a little embarrassed to admit that it has taken me this long to put up a "dream board" in my own home. But, here it is...

So far, my husband and I are the only ones to have added anything to it, but I think it's good for the kids to see this everyday- and even if it just gets them to think about their dreams and wishes- I am good with that!

                                                                                                           image © held by AnnMarie Gitchell, 2012

I am a new day,
I am the next moment, 
I am a ripple in a pond, 
I am a bud about to bloom,
I am a child about to laugh, 
I am the wind in a prairie,
I am the tingling before a first kiss, 
I am the sun rising again, 
I am everything that is good, because I am everything that will be.

being smart ..

So my almost 9 year old son was talking to me this morning about kids who are smart in his class.  This one's smart at math, this one's smart at reading, and so on and so on.  Not once did he mention himself and where his skills lie.  This didn't surprise me, number one, because he's very honest- yet crazy humble and he's comfortable in that little hidden land of his, and number two because he doesn't always see his talents as being on par with these academic pursuits.

So I asked him, "what are you smart at?"  He shrugged his shoulders and thought for a moment while he was drawing another one of his masterpieces (I don't use this word lightly, the kid has talent) and said "I'm good at drawing, but that's not smart."
                                                                                                            image © held by AnnMarie Gitchell, 2012

This of course made me want to blog.  Not only is my son "smart," dare I say gifted in the realm of drawing and creating- he's also incredibly smart at being a human being.  He knows when to compliment someone, he knows when someone needs a hug and gives it freely even when the other person is pitching a fit, he knows how to be hilarious without even trying, he knows when to help someone and when to give them space, he controls his emotions when he needs to and expresses himself at just the right moment, he allows others to comfort him and he knows how to show love in everything he does.

To me, my son is brilliant, a genius at being an artist and being a member of the human race.  He gets things most adults I know can't or don't try to understand, yet he doesn't feel that he is "smart."

Here's my next wish- I wish to change this.  I wish to help create an environment in academia and in our community at large that encourages and acknowledges all types of  "smart."                                                               

I earned every possible honor and accolade in my education from grade school to grad school- but I am not nearly as smart as my son.  I'm pretty sure that's why God sent him to me.






                                                                                                                                                                                         

greatness

image © held by AnnMarie Gitchell, 2012 

Abraham Lincoln said something similar: "Whatever you are, be a good one."  

I often can get hung up on searching for that "one thing" that I feel I am missing.  You've maybe even read about my quest on this blog.  It's just around the corner, this ridiculously noble calling or purpose that the universe appears to be holding ransom from me.  

Truth is, by doing this, I realize that I am missing out on key opportunities for greatness.  Yeah, that's right- by searching for greatness, I'm missing out on greatness- now you can see why I've been so confused and maybe a little lost.  

Yes- there are many images from history books and in the media, that portray "great people."  You may even know some.  But, I'm slowly (painstakingly so) coming to realize that these people are not any greater than I am or you are.  Most of us, out of necessity, are  driven by the work-a-day needs of ourselves or our families and friends, but that doesn't make us any less great.  It's not the calling that makes us great, it's how we pursue it, that unleashes the greatness that's inside each and everyone of us.  

What Oliver and Abe (that's right, first name basis) are filling us in on is that greatness is not externally handed to us, and neither is it restricted to a special few.  We all have it within us to be great.  Doing whatever we do to the best of our abilities, makes us great- no matter what it is!  

“Nothing is more simple than greatness; indeed, to be simple is to be great.”
-Ralph Waldo Emerson

Your work is to discover your world and then with all your heart give yourself to it.  

-Buddha

west of the moon, east of the sun

 

image © held by AnnMarie Gitchell, 2012