For the past couple of weeks it’s been a bit like a game of cloak and daggers here at my job, because I’ve been ’secretly’ involved in a plot to get my position switched back to the same group I was in last fall. I LOVED the group, the clients, the work, ALL OF IT! So when the idea/opportunity was presented I was thrilled
Well this afternoon all of the pieces are really starting to fall into place. Now it is just a small matter of time and ‘protocol’.
(Actually, as I was writing this they made me an offer and I accepted, so it is official!!! And I even got a ‘token’ raise as a ‘welcome back’. tee hee. Isn’t life fun?)
Good things do come to those who wait, particularly if they have faith in their hearts.
WOW. Is it just me or is anyone else in the middle of a communications BREAKDOWN epidemic!?! I’ve got co-workers in tears, people on edge, friends in crisis, projects unraveling at the seams and personally I feel like things are spiraling out of control and into a vast void of chaos and confusion!
It’s like a bad apocalypse movie only without the benefit of an END in sight.
On Tuesday night, Glitterbug and I decided to head down to the Lake for a walk and to exercise the canine. We ended up at a completely empty ‘park’ with some tall grass, several trees and a wonderful water-filled ‘ravine’ dark featured along in the distance of the twilight blue haze of diminishing light. It was truly beautiful. No sooner had we gotten out of the car and begun our journey into the dusk when we began to see the occasional flicker of a lightening bug dance here and there. As we began to really take notice and comment with one another on the delightful little creatures, we were amazed to find that they were NOT ‘occasional’ at all, but in fact we had stumbled upon the most numerous assemblages of lightning bugs that I have ever witnessed. They were everywhere, these marvelous little twinkles of dancing light. It was magical, like some sort of personal Fairy Tale Realm that was just for us. The moment was truly enchanted and we drank it in and I was filled with the delightful sense of youth and innocence and the mystery and wonder of it all.
Then Wednesday came with a heart-sinking event followed by a rush of incredulity, confusion, pain and loss.
Later Wednesday evening when Glitterbug and I returned to that same park, it felt like some of the magic and innocence was gone and for a moment all I could do was stand in the dark, in Glitterbug’s arms and cry for what seemed lost, for what was lost, and for the losses that were sure to come again in the future. But after the tears subsided and the watery blur of glistening glowing splotches began to dry and I could once again focus on the dancing light patterns, dark outlined edges and twilight blue haze I began to remember the truth; that things would be okay.
There is still magic and mystery and innocence in the world. And as we allow it to wash over us, it heals us and fuses us with that greater inexplicable, eternal power.
Recently at my job I was given a book titled How Full Is Your Bucket which included the URL and a pass code for a Professional Strength Assessment. There are 34 strength profiles according to this system: Achiever, Activator, Adaptability, Analytical, Arranger, Belief, Command, Communication, Competition, Connectedness, Consistency (formerly Fairness), Context, Deliberative, Developer, Discipline, Empathy, Focus, Futuristic, Harmony, Ideation, Includer (formerly Inclusiveness), Individualization, Input, Intellection, Learner, Maximizer, Positivity, Relator, Responsibility, Restorative, Self-Assurance, Significance, Strategic and Woo.
Of course I couldn’t wait to take the assessment because I LOVE this kind of thing.
Now I have a certain opinion/perspective of what I consider to be my ‘professional’ strengths. (I figured things like Achiever, Learner, Adaptability, Communication and Self-Assurance.) And then I have a different understanding of what I would consider to be my ‘personal’ strengths. With these two distinct sets in mind I was surprised when my list of ‘professional skills’ ended up looking more like what I considered to be ‘personal skills’. Here are the results of my evaluation:
Positivity
People strong in the Positivity theme have an enthusiasm that is contagious. They are upbeat and can get others excited about what they are going to do.
Woo
People strong in the Woo theme love the challenge of meeting new people and winning them over. They derive satisfaction from breaking the ice and making a connection with another person.
Ideation
People strong in the Ideation theme are fascinated by ideas. They are able to find connections between seemingly disparate phenomena.
Includer
People strong in the Includer theme are accepting of others. They show awareness of those who feel left out, and make an effort to include them.
Connectedness
People strong in the Connectedness theme have faith in the links between all things. They believe there are few coincidences and that almost every event has a reason.
Now overall I think the list represents strong aspects of me fairly accurately. But I never really looked at those aspects as having professional value. What has been most enlightening about this exercise is beginning to question how my ‘personal’ strengths ARE my ‘professional’ strengths. Perhaps what I thought were my ‘professional’ strengths are actually more like skills that I THINK a corporation/organization VALUES and so I emulate them in order to achieve success. Hmmmmmm?
Obviously I’m just beginning to scratch the surface…but it really is interesting to think about and I enjoy continuing that wonderful process of self-exploration and discovery.
One of the benefits (yes, I’d call it a benefit) of the modern technology-driven world is the need for passwords, and in my corporate world, the need for continuously changing passwords (our system REQUIRES it be changed every 30 days). In the past I have used my password to remind me of a prayer, or a mantra, or any various sort of ‘insight’ or ‘resolution’ I might have been focused on at the time. Taking that moment and typing it in every morning then allowing myself some time for reflection as my system came on-line was always rather comforting in some way.
Well the other day when I was obliged to assign a new password I couldn’t think of anything I really wanted to ‘contemplate’ so I chose a totally silly word/phrase.
So lately my colleagues have been regaled each morning with loud peels of laughter and/or minor but prolonged rumblings of muffled mirth as I continue to amuse myself when I type it.
I’ve learned that a healthy dose of hilarity really is a GREAT way to start the day.
Isn’t life fun!
Apparently a friend of Glitterbug’s did an informal survey once and found that typically people who like creamy peanut butter ALSO prefer mayo, while those who like crunchy peanut butter typically prefer Miracle Whip. I wanted to test her results myself and with your help I found that of the 14 respondents, only 9 reported to like both some form of peanut butter AND some form of these two white sandwich spreads.
Of those 9, 7 fit into the aforementioned (gawd I love when I can use that word) paradigm. That’s almost 78%.
Does anyone know a good grant-writer? I’m sure there is either some government funding or at least some corporate marketing dollars we can get a hold of to “research” this further.