Word-Of-the-Week #843: Embrace
October 1, 2020 by Susan Clarke · Comments Off on Word-Of-the-Week #843: Embrace
Embrace – to accept willingly.
Have you been able to willingly accept the way things are now in this “new normal?” Have you felt any resentment?
“Life isn’t about waiting for the storm to pass … it’s about learning to dance in the rain.”
— Vivian Greene
This week longtime friend Bill Marvin, The Restaurant Doctor, had some insight to share and is a great follow up to last week’s WOW.
“Vivian Greene’s quote is perfect for the times we’re living in … and of course it has a deeper message.
In a way her metaphor is another variation on themes you’ve been hearing for years — “It is what it is.”, “Play the hand you’re dealt.”, “Keep calm and carry on.”, and so forth. And yet I love that there’s a certain playfulness to it.
Dancing in the rain goes beyond simply coping with your challenges. It’s about learning to love your situation, whatever it may be at the moment. The ability to joyously embrace whatever life brings your way is a powerful — and contagious — skill to develop.
Resistance kills. Unconditional non-judgmental acceptance frees up your thinking so you can recognize what you need to do to make the most of things. When you see the world this way, you are always “on your game.” Eventually you can become so immersed in the adventure of living you don’t even notice the storms. How cool would that be?
Spending time being upset at the hand you’ve been dealt makes you feel like you’re doing something about it … when you’re not. Don’t waste your time feeling resentful. The storm will pass … or it may not. Why should you let that destroy your peace of mind?
In the end, the quality of your life is less about what life throws at you and more about the way you think about it. Let’s dance!”
This week’s focus is to embrace your current situation. Can you be at peace not knowing how long the pandemic will last? Do you recognize what you need to do to make the most of your situation? How would it feel to joyously dance in the rain?
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Word-Of-the-Week #613: Embrace
May 4, 2016 by Susan Clarke · Comments Off on Word-Of-the-Week #613: Embrace
Embrace – willing and eager acceptance.
So how much laughter did you experience last week? How about eating dark chocolate? How accepting are you of the aging process? Do you try to fight it or do you embrace it? Laughing while eating chocolate helps!
Once again I found a great article written by Michele Parente in the UT. “Age of the aged: New movement embraces growing old.” She writes, “When she used to see an elderly woman on the street, hunched over, taking tentative little steps, Ashton Applewhite would say to anyone who’d listen, “put me out of my misery if I ever get like that.”
Today, that makes Applewhite, 63, cringe. “I’m ashamed of thinking that now. Why assume she’s miserable? My guess is that she’s happy to be alive and out and about. Maybe she’s going to meet her boyfriend. It’s presumptuous to assume her quality of life sucks because her body has changed,” said Applewhite, a writer and self-described “apprehensive boomer turned pro-aging radical.”
The baby boom generation is a group that’s rewritten the rules in its youth, middle age and now older years. And they can be divided into three categories:
- Those in denial who try to stay young forever with Botox injections, expensive creams and unproven “snake oil” hormones and remedies. It’s the current equivalent to “Hell no, we won’t go!”
- The resigned, who munch on kale and flax seed while doing Sudoku puzzles. They tell themselves, “It’s going to be bad, but if I do these things it won’t be so bad.”
- And the embracers. “I’m in a rare tribe who looks forward to it with enthusiasm. It’s possible to look forward to something and know there are parts of that experience you’d like to avoid, that won’t be pleasant,” says Dr. Bill Thomas.
He likened how people approach old age to those who’d rather go on, say, a safe cruise versus climbing Machu Picchu. “There are some who would say, ‘you know there could be rock slides,’ and there’s the adventure traveler who says, ‘yeah, but it’s Machu Picchu!’ They do it because they think the adventure is greater than the risk. Look, I’m not a silly person who says old age is great and nothing will happen. But people who have a great fear of aging are going against their own future self. They become a traitor by robbing themselves of future possibilities.”
All of the experts interviewed for this story said society’s view of old age – that it’s solely a depressing period of physical and mental decline – isn’t backed up by data, science and research.
“We internalize a lifetime of messages that the younger self is worth more than the older self,” Applewhite said. “The older self is just different.”
This week’s focus is to embrace aging. Which category do you fall under? Denial, resigned or embracer? Do you want adventure or are you afraid of the risk? Do you assume that quality of life sucks as you get older? Or are you eagerly accepting? Stay tuned – more on this next week!
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Word-Of-the-Week #609: Hubris
April 7, 2016 by Susan Clarke · Comments Off on Word-Of-the-Week #609: Hubris
Hubris – unyielding arrogance.
Have you ever experienced a person who continually talks about how great they are? Do you know someone that appears to strut around with their chest puffed out as if to say, “Look at me, you should give me something for all I do?” Are you watching all of the election coverage? Anyone come to mind?
I love this word and so I am taking the liberty of rerunning this WOW from 2008. The first time I heard this word was when I lived in Chicago back in the ’80’s. Harold Washington, who was the mayor at that time, used this word often. I hardly ever see it in print; however, I saw it in an extensive article on human nature and genes in the San Diego Union.
Several weeks ago my WOW was pride. As it turns out, pride is one of the seven deadly sins. Surprised me! Researchers have surmised that pride is a universal trait. And one type of pride is described as hubristic. “It is more likely to occur when people attribute their success to something stable about themselves — like their ability –rather than their effort. It’s accompanied by feelings of egotism and arrogance, and people who experience it tend to be disagreeable, aggressive, hostile, narcissistic and prone to shame.”
“Hubristic pride may simply be the cheater’s version, allowing individuals to garner social esteem and reward without actually doing the work.”
This quote made me think of all of the athletes who have been accused of using performance enhancing drugs.
And Wikipedia writes this, “Hubris often indicates a loss of contact with reality and an overestimation of one’s own competence, accomplishments or capabilities.”
This week’s focus is on hubris. How would you rate your “sense of pride?” Do you have a tendency to be disagreeable or hostile? Do you take credit for others work? Do you know someone who is arrogant and egotistical most of the time? Are they someone that you like to spend time with?
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