Sunday, March 2, 2008

title

someone once asked me why i quote lyrics so much.
my response?

i am not a very good writer (my brother got all those genes). but like anyone else, i have alot of emotions. and i don't always know how to express them. thats where the lyrics come in. sometimes i hear/read some lyrics that just click in my head. it expresses exactly how i am feeling at that moment in time and they wrote it way better than i would ever be able to. i know, sometimes fancy lyrics and rhymes arent necessary but i can get so tongue tied i cant even find the normal words to say. i then get frustrated that people dont understand me. then a lyric comes along and says it for me.
maybe thats a cop-out. but whatever you wanna call it, its me. music is something i can never get enough of. this is one of the reasons i am so passionate about it. it just makes so much sense to me and maybe im a little jealous that i cant write it that way.

i feel really accomplished recently.
before i moved back to san jo, i said i wanted to get a job by the end of february. i ended up starting my new job 4 days after moving back. yeah. 4.
and i designed my new myspace background yesterday. okay, i kind of copied it from a shirt i saw at urban, but i made this one myself. i like it. i wanna make it into a shirt since urban is WAY over priced.

speaking of making shirts, im also feeling really artistic. i know, i have no talent in that area. but i have some ideas up in this noggin of mine and just need someone to help me put them on paper.

im helping start a magazine. it was supposed to be started awhile ago, but daniel hasnt been on top of things recently. but now that im back in san jo, he's really excited to have me help him more than i thought i was going to be "used for". im pretty much going to be his assistant. im really excited for this. i never imagined i would be involved in something this cool. now to help him get started....

i took an online strengths test and really enjoyed it. while taking the test, i was a little skeptical thinking there is no way this test can be legit. but turns out, it really was. and sharing the results with friends and family was cool because they too saw those strengths in me. here are my results.

Developer
You see the potential in others. Very often, in fact, potential is all you see. In your view no individual is fully formed. On the contrary, each individual is a work in progress, alive with possibilities. And you are drawn toward people for this very reason. When you interact with others, your goal is to help them experience success. You look for ways to challenge them. You devise interesting experiences that can stretch them and help them grow. And all the while you are on the lookout for the signs of growth—a new behavior learned or modified, a slight improvement in a skill, a glimpse of excellence or of “flow” where previously there were only halting steps. For you these small increments—invisible to some—are clear signs of potential being realized. These signs of growth in others are your fuel. They bring you strength and satisfaction. Over time many will seek you out for help and encouragement because on some level they know that your helpfulness is both genuine and fulfilling to you.

Adaptability
You live in the moment. You don’t see the future as a fixed destination. Instead, you see it as a place that you create out of the choices that you make right now. And so you discover your future one choice at a time. This doesn’t mean that you don’t have plans. You probably do. But this theme of Adaptability does enable you to respond willingly to the demands of the moment even if they pull you away from your plans. Unlike some, you don’t resent sudden requests or unforeseen detours. You expect them. They are inevitable. Indeed, on some level you actually look forward to them. You are, at heart, a very flexible person who can stay productive when the demands of work are pulling you in many different directions at once.

Empathy
You can sense the emotions of those around you. You can feel what they are feeling as though their feelings are your own. Intuitively, you are able to see the world through their eyes and share their perspective. You do not necessarily agree with each person’s perspective. You do not necessarily feel pity for each person’s predicament—this would be sympathy, not Empathy. You do not necessarily condone the choices each person makes, but you do understand. This instinctive ability to understand is powerful. You hear the unvoiced questions. You anticipate the need. Where others grapple for words, you seem to find the right words and the right tone. You help people find the right phrases to express their feelings—to themselves as well as to others. You help them give voice to their emotional life. For all these reasons other people are drawn to you.

Includer
“Stretch the circle wider.” This is the philosophy around which you orient your life. You want to include people and make them feel part of the group. In direct contrast to those who are drawn only to exclusive groups, you actively avoid those groups that exclude others. You want to expand the group so that as many people as possible can benefit from its support. You hate the sight of someone on the outside looking in. You want to draw them in so that they can feel the warmth of the group. You are an instinctively accepting person. Regardless of race or sex or nationality or personality or faith, you cast few judgments. Judgments can hurt a person’s feelings. Why do that if you don’t have to? Your accepting nature does not necessarily rest on a belief that each of us is different and that one should respect these differences. Rather, it rests on your conviction that fundamentally we are all the same. We are all equally important. Thus, no one should be ignored. Each of us should be included. It is the least we all deserve.

Communication
You like to explain, to describe, to host, to speak in public, and to write. This is your Communication theme at work. Ideas are a dry beginning. Events are static. You feel a need to bring them to life, to energize them, to make them exciting and vivid. And so you turn events into stories and practice telling them. You take the dry idea and enliven it with images and examples and metaphors. You believe that most people have a very short attention span. They are bombarded by information, but very little of it survives. You want your information—whether an idea, an event, a product’s features and benefits, a discovery, or a lesson—to survive. You want to divert their attention toward you and then capture it, lock it in. This is what drives your hunt for the perfect phrase. This is what draws you toward dramatic words and powerful word combinations. This is why people like to listen to you. Your word pictures pique their interest, sharpen their world, and inspire them to act.


taking that test made me realize my potential and i really wanna stop being so lazy and get stuff done. its weird what one silly little test can do! now lets see if i follow through....

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

hey i have empathy, adaptability and developer! haha so funny...and i love you :)

Melodee said...

So elucidate us (elucidate?). Where did you find the test?

Empathetically yours,