When Appearances Lie

Have you ever given any thought as to how the outward appearances of "things" affect your opinion and thinking about that particular thing? One example that comes quickly to mind might be found in the way children determine whether or not they like a food. If it doesn't look "right" to them they will haven't nothing to do with tasting or sampling the item. I think that might fall into the category of judgments or would it???? I have had students tell me that the food was just NASTY when they didn't like the way it looked. Left me always wondering about the meaning of nasty in their minds.

My thoughts were running along in a completely different direction. I was thinking more about how we as individuals quickly form opinions of people based on their outward appearance. Without consideration of the fact that many people can not control the way they look we make judgments at times. Depending on the age of individuals they may look totally different to us at different stages in their lives. I sometimes happen upon students that I have taught during my career and I do not know who they are because I have not seen them since they were ten or eleven years old and the person is now thirty. My what changes can take place during that time period.

Then again diseases and mental conditions can alter the way people appear physically but not change much in the way they regard themselves because we can not always see what others see when they look at us. In other words, we cannot see ourselves through another's eyes.
How often have you seen an individual, formed an opinion and later learned to know the individual to be a totally different person from your pre-judgment???

The issue that I was pondering that brought all of this to my mind was simply how we are all trapped in a physical body that may not depict who we are as individuals. And further that some of us ( in this earthly life) become trapped in a body that doesn't function properly and does not serve us well.
We should strive each day to be exceptionally kind to one another because of things we do know but more often than not for that which we do not know. And more importantly we need to be kind and patient with ourselves.

CHANGE!

I have lived in Raleigh for many, many years. I was born in a state north of North Carolina but my parents moved to the Old North State when I was in college. When I finished my degree and returned home Wilmington, North Carolina had become home. After a short time in Wilmington Ken and I married and I moved to Raleigh with him where he lived and worked. Since that time I have always been able to go home to Wilmington whenever I needed to get away from the " hub and bub" of this city. In the beginning I could always go home to my parents' home and after they passed away we owned a home there. Time has passed and the body has gotten older. For the twelve years since Ken has been gone I have maintained the extra home. But the time has come to only own and focus on one residence. Taking care of two is a pain when you are alone.
Within the last five months I have marketed the home we own in Wilmington and having found a buyer will soon no longer have a "getaway" there.
Life as I have known it ever since I married and have lived in Raleigh is changing. Change is most often not easy. I am not sure what to expect and whether I will be sad or relieved.

Where The WIld Things Are

Have you read the book or seen the movie, "Where The Wild Things Are"? It will not be long before I can tell you exactly where to find the wild things without having to go very far.
Every year our church congregation rotates church schedules at the beginning of the school year.
For this past school year our schedule ran between 10:50 AM and 1:50 PM. For some reason unknown to most of the congregation we "get to rotate" to the new time of 12:30 PM - 3:30 PM
for the next school year. This schedule is so inconvenient for parents having small children with schedules built around feeding times. Not only that but most adults hate it just as well. To make things even happier the meeting times are flipped so that the meeting known in most religions as the worship service will be the last meeting of the three hour block.
So...... beginning September 5 if you have ever wondered where the wild things were just stop by the church, look in the door and listen! Things are sure to be pretty wild!

Job Misery

Have ever worked at a job that you truly did not like? You so looked forward to the weekend and dreaded for Monday to come? I know people who "claim to love their jobs" but if you believe what they write on Facebook you realize there seems to be a contradiction. They look forward to Friday all week and dread for Monday to come beginning Friday evening!
Patrick Lencioni has written a book entitled, " The Three Signs of a Miserable Job." In it he talks of three problems that, unsolved, make any job miserable -- even if its your dream job and you're well-paid for it.
The first is immeasurement. People have no way of judging when and whether they themselves are doing a good job.
The second is irrelevancy. People feel as if their work doesn't make any difference in the world. Employees need to know that the job they do impacts the lives of individuals in one way or another.
The third is anonymity. People feel as if they are not known as individuals. Their managers could care less about them, their needs or their interests.
Gallop polls show that 77% of American people hate their jobs, while other polls show that 87% of workers do not like their jobs.
What is it with this job misery?

My Funny Girl

Today the signs have and are manifesting themselves -- unmistakedly. I dreaded for this day to come. Several nights ago I was awakened by her panting at 3 AM. The house was cool enough in this dreadful heat. I lay a moment and listened then I got up and went to her medicine supply and retrieved a pain pill and pill pocket plus a few salmon training treats. I coaxed her into taking these without too much resistance. She then found her choice of places to lay down and relax and after a while she was asleep and the panting had ceased. Today we had a season of panting. Again I got a supply of medication down her but this time in the process I almost got bitten. A first for this " The Queen" of our house. The pain must be bad in the back leg on the right side. Same side as the front affected leg. I intentionally moved my hand toward that leg to get a reaction to verify my thoughts. Each time it was the same -- immediate movement to defend the leg. I felt for the muscles in the leg to see whether they were becoming smaller. I will keep watch to see what is happening and how this progresses.

Multitasking, a Misnomer

Do you have a strong belief that you are a multitasker? Does your multitasking save you time?
There are lots of reasons that I do not believe in multitasking nor do I believe that such activity saves one time. It has been suggested by some who have done research in this area that folks are really switchtasking, an activity they refer to as multitasking. Since the brain is having to switch between the activities it is performing it actually slows down the ability to act. Since no time is saved in performing several activities simultaneously due to the switching the brain is required to do one must wonder why folks would need to "multitask."
This brings me to another thought about this issue. Multiple Intelligences. While we realize that the brain is sectioned into different regions which control various activities would that not make one wonder about this activity. As we perform manual or physical activities the mind often wanders off on other things while performing these tasks. But the brain is not totally engaged in the second activity. For example, if I am painting which I consider to be a physical activity I could also be working out some other problems I have in my mind. Some may consider this multitasking but would I???
Probably not. Would the mental activity of problem solving slow down the physical activity of painting? Perhaps so. Oh my, I think I have confused myself with all of this now.