THERE'S NO PLACE LIKE HOME

Learn How To Love Yourself

When I was young and in school, I really wanted the other kids to like me.  My family moved while I was in high school so I didn’t fit in anywhere.  I was left out of the in -crowd’s parties, and in  college a guy actually said he couldn’t stand me because I smiled too much. What? I was crushed.  Back then,  I always wished I had   someone like Glinda, The Good Witch from Wicked, who would help me find my way Home — to make me Popular.

But eventually as I aged,  I realized the Ancient Greek aphorism “Know Thyself” that Plato and Socrates quoted must have been  inscribed on the Temple of Apollo for a very good reason – because it turns out SELF-AWARENESS, SELF-ACCEPTANCE & SELF-LOVE are the actual keys to happiness.

And sometimes,  it’s your “weaknesses” that bring you the very best friends ever.

Well, one of my major weaknesses is having a terrible sense of direction.  I can’t  even read a map.  If I’m driving forward, I must be going north, right?  Ha!

Over the years my friends Sheryl, Kathy and I have loved following Emily (Bastel) Glaser as she played golf in college and on  the LPGA.  We made trips everywhere  with her mom, Debbie.  I’ll  never forget the  one trip when Sheryl, Debbie & I missed the exit late at night and almost ended up two hours away at Disney World instead of the NCAA tournament.  And it’s  a miracle we still aren’t circling Pittsburgh on that  darn color-coded street system of theirs trying to find the Opening Ceremonies for the Curtis Cup we missed back  in 2002. Ha!

Another more recent misdirection was when Sheryl, Kathy and I were trying to return to our hotel, Villa Mabapa, on the barrier island Lido, after spending the day exploring Venice, Italy.    All we had to do was jump on the water taxi and get off at our designated stop. Easy, right? Well,  the boat was really crowded, and Kathy got separated from us. She had to sit by herself closer to the front.   As the water taxi reached its first stop and people starting getting off, Sheryl and I waved at Kathy indicating we had saved her a seat near us.  We didn’t realize until we saw her waving back from the dock that the two of us  were floating down the lagoon to somewhere unknown. Oh, brother!

Dr. Howard Gardner, professor at Harvard’s Graduate School of Education, believes that each of us has 8 different intelligences:  Verbal, Spatial, Musical, Mathematical, Interpersonal, Naturalistic, Kinesthetic and Intrapersonal.  Although we possess  all the intelligences, Garner suggests that we are gifted in at least three of them and weaker in others.

 There’s no doubt I HAVE already figured out that I’m spatially-challenged. Ha!  It’s still  kinda fun to take the  Multiple Intelligence Quiz that I linked here  to become even more self-aware of both your strengths & weaknesses. (If you don’t want to add numbers, just check off the areas with which you agree. )

Well, Glinda — I gave up on being “Popular” years ago, but once in awhile I could still use your help — finding my way Home?  xoxo

It’ll Be OK

~~~

“At my age ‘getting lucky’ means finding my car in the parking lot.” ~ Anonymous

COMMENT: Brave enough to acknowledge a strength or weakness of yours? xo