Monday, April 30, 2012

Perspective

If you've never seen this cartoon, may I suggest you see it first before I begin:

I find there are many ways of looking at perspective— but being able to look at both the small details and the big picture is quite a challenge…

Oh everything comes in its own special size
I guess it can be measured by where you put your eyes
It looks big when you're close
And it looks smaller back a bit
That's about the size of it.
1

Funny how we seem to be trapped in our own little world. We tend to see only ourselves and never look around to see what may be out there. We're too afraid to look at the vastness of things…

Oh the big becomes the little
When you see it back a bit
The huge becomes the dinky
Which is just the opposite
Of the larger that gets smaller
It never seems to fit
That's about the size of it.
2

But knowing that everything has perspective helps one to measure up (or down)— and put you on the correct plane in order to see how everything sees through their eyes…

That's about the size
It's where you put your eyes
That's about the size of it.
3

Where do you fit in with perspective? Do you find it difficult to "see" what others see? Are you able to see both the big picture and the small details— at the same time?


1, 2, 3 Excerpts from the song "That's about the Size" by Bud Luckey ©1971 Sesame Street Inc

Saturday, April 21, 2012

Complementary Compliment

This week's Spin Cycle is on Compliments— which may make you wonder about the title of my post.

I used to get the terms complement and compliment confused with one another. Believe it or not, they are supposedly pronounced the same as well (ˈkämpləmənt). After some pondering, I came to realize that both are interconnected. So that you will not be confused as I was, I will describe both, then will show how this is true in my relationship with my wife.

Complement (Lah)
When one person complements another person, they fill in those gaps that the other person is missing. I am often reminded of the phrase from the movie Jerry Maguire "You complete me". So often there are pieces of our personality that we are lacking that the other brings out. They say that opposites attract— and being able to complement one another makes the combination of the two stronger than the individuals themselves.
My wife and I are quite different from one another. Where I am typically outgoing, she tends to be a bit shy. When we are together she has more bravery and feels less timid about meeting new people. My wife tends to see the deails in things, whereas I usually see the big picture. When I am stuck trying to see something, she is able to put my views into perspective. I truly enjoy being recognized as a couple rather than two individuals. So often when we are together we tend to bounce ideas off of one another and make an interesting cohesive pair that many people enjoy being with.
Compliment (Lid)
When one compliments someone they tend to say something that makes the other person feel good about themselves. This is not straight flattery because "flattery gets you nowhere". So often we find our partner in need of a little ego boost. Giving a compliment to them helps them to overcome those challenges they face and lets them know that they are on the right track.
Whenever I notice that my wife seems down, I try to compliment her and show her that she need not worry too much about whatever is bothering her. Likewise, whenever I am frustrated about something, she will compliment me and show that my frustration is not worth getting worked up over.

The ability to compliment one another helps build the relationship by showing support for the other person. This support complements both by filling in the gaps— thus completing the relationship into a more holistic whole.


Second Blooming

Wednesday, April 11, 2012

Looking for a way

I look for a way to free my soul
from the time that has put me in a hole

A hole of chores that slow me down
'til I'm put at rest with no white gown

I wear the clothes that shut me in
and tie me up so I can't begin

My heart begins to weep again
as I look across my plain

I only wish I could leave this trap
and find the map to make me whole

cj86'

Looking back on this poem it seems to sum up those days where the tediousness of life seem to trap you in. I was amazed by my usage of the word "plain" in the second line of the fourth stanza. Being spelling challenged— I originally meant to use the word plane (intended to refer to a field or plane), and mistakenly wrote it down as plain. Interestingly, this mis-choice of word gives it a better meaning when I look it over today.

Monday, April 2, 2012

Birth of a Blog

This week's spin cycle is on Births. Since I am not a parent, I don't have any memorable birthing moments— neither do I remember my own birth (sadly my first memory is giving up my pacifier). So, instead I will post on the birth of my blog. I always find it interesting to know how someone's blog came to be. I remember others doing this type of post and was inspired to do so as well. The following is a post that I wrote in May of 2009— a week before my one year Blogiversary:


Birth of a Blog 01: Seeds of Change

I have always had some sort of personal philosophy. I found it to be rather unique and quite profound and felt that I should write a book. However, my writing is typically short and never of any great length. I felt that I should at least write everything down so that when the time came I can sit down with an editor and flesh out my book. I find that I have so many ideas and never have the writing skills necessary to put it in writing.

Since I was already a letter writer— I tried my hand at writing people and thinking that those letters would be the way that I could get these ideas put on paper. The problem with this method is that letters typically use some sort of correspondence and you tend to write a lot of little things and never focus on any one topic. I longed for those types of correspondences you hear about where two people write to each other for years— however I never knew anybody who was a letter writer even when I used e-mail and they didn't have to worry about finding a stamp.

I learned about blogs at an informal demonstration at work several years back. At the time I felt that it was a good educational tool that enables participants to engage in discussions about a given topic— but never thought that I would be using it myself.

Sometime last year I was pondering getting my own Web site so that I could demonstrate some of my Web development skills and be able to reference it in a resume. After viewing some co-worker's sites to see how they set up a Web site, I noticed that some of them had a blog associated with them. If anything I wanted to have some content to my Web site— so I figured I would start out by blogging a few things then later transfer those pages over to my site when I finally bought a domain.

I found it difficult to find a domain using my name without being excessively long and difficult to remember because "chrisjohnson" as well as "christopherjohnson" were already taken. I figured I would try shortening it to be easier to remember and chose my first two initials and the first three letters of my last name— thus Ca-Joh was born.

If you are interested in "The rest of the story", you can read my other posts as well:


Second Blooming
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