What personality trait in people raises a red flag with you?
Rudeness
No explanation. If you are rude to others, especially for no reason, that is a huge red flag. Kindness is free. If you can’t constantly utilize it, that’s an issue.
Category: Random
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I disagree with this idea, for a couple of reasons.
First, it defies logic. 1+1 does not equal 1, unless we’re talking about one sperm and one egg joining to create an embryo. But in that case, the sperm and the egg each only have half the genetic material necessary to create an embryo, so that situation is actually 0.5 + 0.5 =1, which makes sense.
Now, since we are each born as a whole being, that means we are complete on our own. Any completeness that someone may be seeking will only be found within themselves, not from any external thing or entity.
I believe this idea started in Greek mythology, and humans were said to be these strange beings with 4 arms, 4 legs and two faces….Even now, the mental image of this is bizarre and difficult to comprehend… Anyway, for whatever reason, Zeus got a bug up his ass, split all the humans, scattered them, and we were then doomed to roam the earth in search of our other half. Nice story, but I don’t buy it.
I just wonder why we’ve held on to this idea, why we curse ourselves generation after generation with this delusion that we are incomplete without this elusive counterpart. Why do we not instead think of ourselves as intact from the get go, and view relationships to/with others as ways to accentuate our qualities and experience things in life?
I also wonder where the world would be by now if had it been populated the whole time with people who knew their entire lives that they were complete as they were? A bunch of people searching only for experiences and things they are passionate about, not someone to make them whole or worthy as a result of that wholeness. How much happier would humanity be?
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If you had to give up one word that you use regularly, what would it be?
To clarify, are we saying we can’t use the word itself but can replace it with something else, or remove the word completely from our lexicon without replacement or substitution?
In either case, it would be the word “should”. I do not like this word, and try my best not to use it. I used to use it as much as anyone else, but have been trying to catch myself. The reason I don’t like the word is because it implies obligation, yet many people use it to “suggest” things that they want, not that the person is actually obligated to do. For example, at work, “they (the company) should give 10% raises”. It can be a bit more devious when used in one on one conversation where the person saying it may actually have influence on the outcome.
Yeah, should would be the word I give up.
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Are you holding a grudge? About?
I have to say no on this one, I am not one to hold a grudge. I don’t have the time or energy for that kind of emotional drain.
I will say, however, that my behavior may change in accordance with what I learn about the other person and/or my place in their life through certain interactions. So, there is that. I wouldn’t say that’s a grudge, per se, but more so a sort of reciprocal adjustment.
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Share a story about the furthest you’ve ever traveled from home.
“Home” is an interesting concept to me. For most people, it’s a particular place – the area they grew up, their hometown. For me, home has always been a transient thing. My parents were in the military, so we moved around a lot. Different states, different countries – I don’t have a hometown.
Even now, after settling in an area of the US, I don’t feel that this is my home in the sense that most people think of it, especially with regard to this question.
Now that I have gone off on that little tangent, back to the question at hand. I went to the Bahamas with my husband once. We went on a cruise, and had a great time, for the most part. There was one particular excursion that involved kayaking. I had never been in a kayak before, and know nothing about properly navigating or operating one. We wound up stuck in bushes, going in circles, being the last in the line of other people on the excursion. Bickering and frustration were rampant. We tell the story now and laugh, but I will never again go kayaking or board any vessel that I am in any way responsible for propelling or steering. It’s safer that way. 😝
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Control is a funny thing. It is a bundle of deception wrapped in a pretty package that looks like stable predictability. But it is all an illusion. A sparkly, beautiful, self-defeating illusion.
There are millions, if not more, variables that impact any given day or event in your life. The idea that you have any amount of control over what happens simply baffles me. Complete control over events simply cannot happen, and I think the people in the world who are most at peace are intimately familiar with this fact.
The one and only thing that you can control in life is your response, which – for the record – is not the same as a reaction. Most people react to things, and they are exerting no control in doing so, but don’t realize that. A response is more thoughtful than a reaction. Reactions are almost automatic, and rarely rational. If you can temper those reactions and take the time to respond instead, it is then that you are in control, and only of yourself.
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What’s your favorite time of day?
As with most of my answers to these prompts, it depends.
In general, I prefer nighttime and evening hours. Everything feels calmer, less rushed. That also seems to be when my creativity spikes. I honestly don’t care to know why (astonishing, I know!); it has simply always been that way. In this rare instance, I see no need in questioning how my mind and body prefer to operate.
However, because I live in a world where working hours are in the 9-5-ish range, I have to adapt if I want to get anything useful (in the “adulting” sense) done. That said, given the choice, I like to get errands, appointments, chores and such done as early as possible so that I can focus on my own projects and passions at the time when I am most creative.
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Tell us about the last thing you got excited about.
The last thing I got, and am still, excited about was the launch of Peterson Academy. I love to learn, and the fact that I can take any course and not be tied to a narrow degree program is freaking fantastic!!
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What are your top ten favorite movies?
In no particular order, because like most things, it depends….
Pi
Phone Booth
Requiem for a Dream
One Hour Photo
The Fifth Element
Fight Club
Girl, Interrupted
Hackers
SLC Punk
Flatliners
Honorary mention to 13 Ghosts
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What do you enjoy most about writing?
Where to start here? I know the question is limited to a single answer because it says, “what do you enjoy most“, but you have to evaluate the options first, right?
Writing can be an emotional outlet, first and foremost, and though I may not “enjoy” the process of a particular emotional release, I love that writing provides that for me. And then, I can enjoy or appreciate what I have written after the fact, so there is that.
Writing can be a beautiful form of communication, sometimes portraying things that the spoken word simply doesn’t allow for due to the immediate nature of that form of communication. You can’t say something, reach out, erase the words that you blurted out, and replace them with something else. With writing, you can; you can take your time and edit a piece until it’s just right.
Writing has dualistic qualities that I admire. It can be soft or harsh, painfully direct or compassionately subtle, immensely complex or incredibly simple – it all depends on the context and needs of the situation. Writing can be a vessel for nuance and undertone, and the interpretation of that depends on the reader. That’s why it is important to know your audience, I suppose.
Writing also supplies a hard copy back up of your thoughts, your feelings, your ideas and explorations. Speaking about these things can be great, but it can also be forgotten or mis-remembered. Writing, at least for me, provides a snapshot of the truth of my existence at any given point, and can also provide a robust history of that truth over the years.
What it boils down to is that I enjoy using writing in a variety of ways, and it always delivers. Writing is an extremely adaptable, completely dependable thing to have in your life.
A Peculiar Cerebral Tangle 