The only thing more interesting than a story about another person is a story about our own self.
Why is this so?
Because, naturally, most of us are more interested in reading about ourselves than reading a condensed history of the ten most famous people who ever lived.
This is the natural way of human behaviour and there doesn’t seem to be any indication that this is suddenly about to change.
DFQ #07:
In 100 words or less, post a story about yourself.Focus on your Top Strength from DFQ#6 and think of an amusing story that illustrates, or derives from, your top strength.
As you think about this story, recall some details about the setting, the people involved, the provocation and the ‘punch line’ or the outcome.
Don’t feel the need to interpret the story or comment too much on it–just tell it!
We are your devoted audience. Make it a good one 🙂
(NOTE: I realise this is a bit like karaoke and asks you to step-up. But if this DFQ is not for you, no problem, just skip it. All SOT training (even leadership training) is opt-in/opt-out).
Curiosity
My twin boys and I were out shopping during a rain storm. We got out of the car and I opened the umbrella. As we were walking across the parking lot, I asked them what they thought of the weather. The youngest (4 years old at the time) said I am glad you are holding the umbrella–because if lightning strikes it will hit you cause you are taller than we are.
When I was a young child, I developed this thirst for knowledge. I am thankful that the desire has not been quenched. This insatiable desire has been fuel for me all my life. I would devour (read) anything in site when I was young fellow. My love of learning has taken me to all parts of the world and I have met some of the most interesting people known to mankind. While growing up in the depths of poverty and discrimination, I could have easily gone down a path of desolation and destruction. However, so many kind people assisted me along the way with my journey and love for knowledge. Therefore, I have an attitude of gratitude for all that has been given to me and for the sacrifices made by those that came before me. I can remember once telling my childhood friend that I wanted to be PhD. and he smiled and asked me “why do you want to be (post hole digger)? When would play I would dream of being a professional in whatever field I chose, whereas my friends thought such dreams were sheer folly. In most games we played I was often the leader and I really enjoyed. Several of my childhood friends have written me and told me that I was an inspiration to them while we were growing up. I just felt that life was fun and good and wonderful and that there are really not that many limits to what you can do, unless you place the limits on yourself.
Love of Learning
About 5 years ago I attended the Art and Craft Expo at the Caulfield Racecourse and I came across some ladies using what they call a cushion and bobbins of cotton. I asked what it was that they were doing and they replied that it was Bobbin Lace. I asked how difficult it was to learn and their response was ‘If you can Knit, you can make Lace”. After some more discussion, I found out that there are only two stitches to learn “cross and twist” so I signed up for an introductory lesson. To this day I still make lace using the bobbins, cussion and cotton. I have made some extremely beautiful peices of Lace and I can treasure them forever. There is nothiing quite like saying “I made that” and knowing the length of tiime it took to do so. Learning a new skill or taking one that you already know and applying it to something new can only be gratifying…
Curiosity
A time when my curiosity got the better of me was when I was a young child, probably about 8. It was Christmas, and yes I still believed in Santa Claus but there were some disturbing rumours circulating my primary school that he may not actually exist! As a naive and innocent young girl I didn’t want to believe this and didn’t want to ask my parents to confirm any such horrible lie – to be honest I wish I still believed in Santa as some of the magic disappears when you’re not convinving yourself you have seen the sleigh and reindeers and that you can her the bells!
So I had a mixture of feelings of pure excitement and uneasy doubt during the build up to Christmas so I decided to do a Sherlock Holmes on it, hoping with all my heart to disprove the theory rather than confirm it! To my dismay, I found a shiny and sparkling new bicycle under our stairs on Christmas Eve. Devestation! Not content with being totally deflated, and I suppose still having hope that this was just some unfortunate cooincidence I made the excecutive decision to investigate matters further! That night I waited until I knew my parents and siblings believed that me and my younger sister were asleep and cautiously tiptoed down our stairs to outside the living room door where I knew Santa would be leaving the presents! The door was shut of course as my family didn’t want to risk me or my younger sister stumbling upon their deceit! So I sat in my pyjamas, on a freezing cold Christmas Eve night and listened to my family decide who would get what presents. This crushed me even further – especially as there was a particular Teddy Bear that I think they should have given to me!
As you can imagine, when we woke on Christmas morning my enthusiasm for the presents had dwindled. Mind you, I did do a good job of hiding most of it because after all I was still receiving a lot of lovely presents and I didn’t want that to stop! My sister was younger than me and still believe in Santa Claus so I had to keep up the pretence for a number of years to come but Christmas Eve was never quite the same again as I was now an all-knowing adult at 8 years of age and so it had lost some of its glitter!
So curiosity is one of my ‘strengths’ but in some ways I think there are some things we are better off knowing – well the inner child in me does anyway!!
Appreciation of beauty.
I am an avid surfer and there have been times when I am in awe of the natural world around us. One time in particular I was surfing with one other mate and we had the whole beach to ourselves. The waves were not too big but occasionally they would stand up to a nice size, not huge by holding a nice shape for surfing. You could literally see the the bottom of the ocean, sand, seaweed, fish. I would be surfing along and see the wave curling over with the sunlight reflecting from behind the curl, throwing off a jade hue above and beside me. At that moment it felt as if I had been watching a surf movie, ideal in every way, and can see that wave clearly in my mind. I was transfixed. I don’t take drungs but the natural adreniline high mixed with this wonderful sight made me feel at peace and energised. My mate, on the other hand was more concerned about getting a bigger wave, and thus was dissapointed at the size of the waves. He couldn’t understand why I was apparently off with the pixies thinking about that one wave when there were bigger ones to get.
Humour (this time it backfired!)
Yesterday my wife and I went out for the afternoon. Her birthday is approaching and I knew that there was something she wanted and I thought that it was a good opportunity to get it. Only problem was – she was with me. How to keep it a surprise? I asked her to steer clear of the shop i was going into and went and bought the gift but they only had bags with their brand emblazoned on the side and this would have been a give-away. So I decided to go into a bakery and ask for a cake box to throw her off the scent. She was very intrigued by this but didn’t ask too many questions when we arrived home – I even went to the trouble of putting the box in the fridge! I of course forgot about my little ‘joke’ until later in the evening when she asked me, motioning towards the fridge, if I was in the mood for dessert. She had thought that there was a cake in the box all along and my little joke turned sour fairly quickly when she worked out there was no Sunday night cake!
July 1941 O’Connell Street, Dublin. Two boys find a threepenny bit. They are at the base of Nelson Pillar, a landmark in the city. They decide to pay a penny each to mount the hundred or so steps to the top. Breathless they reach the plateau and to their dismay find the city is covered in mist. I cant see a thing. neither can I. I want me money back,so do I. On reaching the bottom the gatekeeper asks if we had a good gander. Could’nt see a f…… thing, we want our money back. Bejasus youse must be blind. get off with yis Hey! it says there “see dublin from on high” we saw nothing. You’re a pair of chancers, here . take it, handing over the pennies. Do we get anything for going up and down for nothing. Yes, youse get nothin. I’m not sure what the lesson is here.JMD
Kindness is one of my strengths and last night it was put to the test.
I cooked a delicious meal last night and there was just enough left over for me to take to work for lunch the next day.
The doorbell rang and a very sad and depressed friend of my husband’s arrived. I asked him how he was feeling and all he said was “Hungry”.
There went my delicious lunch but at least it put a smile on his face.
Many years ago.
In a hire car with my favourite person.
Driving across Scotland: Inverness to Kyle of Lochalsh.
They’d told us it would be cold and icy.
It was glorious: sun pouring down on us – nature on show to move us to tears.
We come across a modest bus shelter in the middle of nowhere – with three locals waiting patiently
They were sheep.
My story is about not getting distracted when I work, or Persistence to get something done.
One day I was working on the computer, trying to create a timetable I think. My daughter, who was about 8 at the time, asked me for an icy pole. (One of those in the plastic sleeve.) I said ‘OK, she could have one’ and kept working. Later on, she asked me for another one, and I again said ‘yes’. When she asked me again, I finally stopped working and asked her how many she had eaten. With a sheepish smile, she said ‘8’, and I had given permission each time. Talk about tunnel vision and commitment to finishing the task at hand……… One of her strengths must be Persistence too!