The Meaning Wheel

A few years ago I had a planner, Panda Planner, that was aligned with something called Via Institute on Character. I am (almost) always up for filling out questionnaires that relate to who I am, my talents, weaknesses, etc., and Via had such a questionnaire--Finding Out Your 6 Strengths. Long and short of it, I filled it out and I discovered I had six strengths although, as I read all the things that each were about, I would have said they were more six tendencies than strengths because I am still working on them three years later. 

Via presented the results in terms of a "meaning wheel". I often forget to review it but as I am in January, taking stock of where I'm going and all, I share these six, ummm, reminders?, that I am using to take stock of my life on a weekly basis:

Appreciation of Beauty and Excellence, Curiosity, Social Intelligence, Perspective, Gratitude and Spirituality. I suppose that, based on my answers to the questionnaire, these were the top aspects that came out. As examples of what each means (there are several, won't go through them all):

Appreciation of Beauty and Excellence: I listened to some wonderful music this week, both classical and soft rock. Fleetwood Mac's "Landslide" almost brought me to tears, Barbra Streisand's "Avinu Malkeinu" lifted me up toward the Spirit, and so on.

Curiosity: A friend and I had discussed a NY Times article on the recent Harvard plagiarism debacle and as I was mulling over the whole question of plagiarism, an invite popped up from my Classical Wisdom Substack writer to "attend" an Eventbrite online lecture by two professors, "Plagiarism: What's the Problem?" this past Wednesday. I struggled a bit with the academic side of the discourse but it felt good to be (almost) back in a uni lecture again. It's actually been posted to Youtube and if you're interested in a little bit of history of the idea of plagiarism, ownership and theft of ideas, and where we are with it in modernity, it was very interesting. Especially for those of us who attended and/or worked at universities. 

Social Intelligence: this one involves talking with people, something that I find very difficult, believe it or not. I overanalyze what I say, except with a very few people, and so in-person conversations and discussions leave me exhausted. Even if the people I am conversing with are ten years old, as they were in the two classes I subbed in this week. Part of Social Intelligence on my Wheel is aspiring to speak honestly about my feelings but when I am faced with some overactive 4th graders who really DON'T want to follow instructions and don't listen to them either, speaking honestly leaves me feeling like a witch. Not the good kind either. Oh well, they're not the only ones I spoke to this week as I pushed myself out the door and went to Episcopal Church meetings. Which I felt good about, it always gives me a chance to check myself on what I truly think and believe because, without the feedback from friends, I sometimes wonder if I am being truthful about what I REALLY believe and value. As I wrote last week, I "say" I want to lose weight, be healthy, eat moderately but give me a stressor, or sit me in front of a computer for an hour, and my hand starts groping for whatever snack I can find. 

There's no strength on my meaning wheel for eating though. Except, ironically in the Curiosity slice which suggests "Try a unique food from another culture". I guess revisiting my childhood by eating a Twix bar, which one of the teachers left me as a treat, doesn't count. Sigh.

On to Perspective: I like this one, "listen carefully to others." Last Sunday I listened to a Zoom meeting through Susan Cain's "The Quiet Life" Substack. She was in discussion with Angie Kim who went to Harvard to become a lawyer, discovered once she graduated that she hated it and became a novelist instead. She's written two books so far, "Happiness Falls" and "Miracle Creek." Based on what she said in the Zoomcast I've borrowed both from our library. Now I have to finish "Foe", also borrowed from the library. I have been borrowing from the library as much as I can as, sadly, my book budget this year is more constrained due to the unfortunate credit card situation. Anyway, back to listening carefully. There were a few "ah hah" and "oh yes" moments in the discussion. One was when Kim, talking about remembering her childhood, referred to "opening a box in the attic of my mind". And I thought, wow, what a great way of describing when someone asks you about something you haven't thought of for years, but still can access in your memory. All those boxes in my mind! Whew!! 

And the other point I want to mention, where I really tried to listen to what they were saying but am not sure I understood what they meant was "What is the baseline of my life?" Huh? Baseline? What's a baseline, what do you mean? After the Zoomcast ended I tried to Google it but I am not sure I really understand it. I guess it would be like the assumptions we have about our life should be? What we want it to be? Anyone want to help me out there with this, because it sounds like an interesting way to look at things.

There are two more strengths in my wheel, Gratitude and Spirituality. Those two are very often joined together for me. At my age, I am so grateful to still have my physical strength and my intellectual ability. I see so many people my age who are struggling with one or the other. One of the aspects of Gratitude was "be mindful of small things you take for granted". Yesterday I washed my bedsheets and as I was heaving the mattress up to get the fitted sheet back on (did it shrink in the wash?) I was so thankful I still had the strength to do it. And for the top sheet, I was thankful I can still do--sort of--hospital corners. I was thankful I was going to have clean sheets to sleep in. I was thankful I didn't live with someone who expected the sheets to be ironed.... Yep, gratitude!! 

And for Spirituality, I have a daily verse that comes up on my cellphone. There are a lot of parts of the Bible that I argue with. I feel there is too much emphasis on exclusivity, patriarchy, and violence. But when I stop stamping my foot, I am able to read so many passages for their beauty, their poetry, their reminder that human beings aren't (IMO) the be all and end all in this world, these universes. I believe there IS a higher power, something that pushes us to be better than we are. 

So I am going to end this week's post with a link to the wonderful Streisand singing "Lessons to be Learned" on Youtube which is from the same album as "Avinu Malkeinu". 

Enjoy, and if you have any thoughts about baselines in our lives I am all ears :)