–noun
1. the act of defining or making definite, distinct, or clear.
2. the formal statement of the meaning or significance of a word, phrase, etc.
3. the condition of being definite, distinct, or clearly outlined.
4. sharpness of the image formed by an optical system.
5. the accuracy of sound or picture reproduction.
Synonyms: analogue, annotation, answer, characterization, clarification, clue, comment, commentary, cue, delimitation, delineation, demarcation, denotation, determination, diagnosis, drift, elucidation, exemplification, explanation, explication, exposition, expounding, fixing, formalization, gloss, individuation, interpretation, key, outlining, rationale, rendering, rendition, representation, settling, signification, solution, statement of meaning, terminology, translation
To painfully state the obvious, I decided to use the definitions of words to begin my blog posts because finding the "right" single word can help me to crystallize my own feeling-swirls into more grasp-able thoughts, so that I can communicate the swirls with some semblance of clarity. The definition(s) of the right word can also remind me of the myriad possible interpretations, and express multiple themes simultaneously, and lead me off on goose-chases of meaning in my own head. Who cares about what any reader might think, this is all about me and my own personal goose-chases are fun.
At least I thought it was all about me.
The last few weeks have been different. Defining. Clarifying. Characterizing. Explaining. Translating. Determining.
As usual, when I let go a little in several areas of my life, and ask a few of the right questions, then poof! the definitions began to appear.
When I entered Group Room number 9, Doug had a delightful diagram to visualize how our spiritual belief systems are complementary, how they probably magnetize us to one another, and how our own spiritual needs and desires relate to/orient around those of others. It was delightfully simple and complicated in all of the ways we love each other best.
[Aside -- This was a week after the Thanksgiving-o' laser-beam-conversations-weekend. (Laser: Short for light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation. A device that produces a nearly parallel, nearly monochromatic, and coherent beam of light by exciting atoms to a higher energy level and causing them to radiate their energy in phase.) In this case, Doug and I were the atoms. The device was the conversation, and the radiation, I suppose, was the combined pressure on each of us from many sources. The light was emitted via the clarity we each gained about the other. Another painfully obvious explanation but lately I delight in pain.]
Back to Group Room number 9. I'd already felt an increased sense of at-home-ness in this already comfy relationship, having survived both the refining pressures of this hellish semester and the laser beam conversations. But talking with Doug about this topic, in this manner, in this location, and in this tone, and watching him get so excited about his (very accurate) insights into "us," made me appreciate down to my very toes how incredibly much I love and value his need to dissect and understand everything to its core components in a way that can be diagrammed on a whiteboard in a group room in a business school library. Especially when it comes to me. Because, remember, it's all about me, and I am complicated. Which is apparently very lovable for someone who likes solving puzzles.
More importantly, I had asked Doug, during a laser-beam conversation the previous weekend, for what my heart told me I needed most in order to feel loved and respected: I need to know that he's trying to understand, and not making fast assumptions. And he did it!
[Aside #2 -- I didn't fully realize just how complicated my thinking pattern is until I attempted to tell Doug about a thought I'd had about some future scenario. The time to think the thought took however long it took me to walk about 100 yards from the parking garage to the crosswalk. Maybe a minute. It turns out that my simple thought required several chapters and a significant appendix in order to fully describe what I was thinking about. My description became increasingly incoherent. By the time I realized this, Doug was staring off into space, probably thinking about Kimchi or cheese or biscuits or noodles. So I just gave up and snuzzled him, and stared into his eyes a lot. I guess I do need someone to solve me.]
It is a time of definition. And there is so much more to learn that is not about me.
Synonyms: analogue, annotation, answer, characterization, clarification, clue, comment, commentary, cue, delimitation, delineation, demarcation, denotation, determination, diagnosis, drift, elucidation, exemplification, explanation, explication, exposition, expounding, fixing, formalization, gloss, individuation, interpretation, key, outlining, rationale, rendering, rendition, representation, settling, signification, solution, statement of meaning, terminology, translation
To painfully state the obvious, I decided to use the definitions of words to begin my blog posts because finding the "right" single word can help me to crystallize my own feeling-swirls into more grasp-able thoughts, so that I can communicate the swirls with some semblance of clarity. The definition(s) of the right word can also remind me of the myriad possible interpretations, and express multiple themes simultaneously, and lead me off on goose-chases of meaning in my own head. Who cares about what any reader might think, this is all about me and my own personal goose-chases are fun.
At least I thought it was all about me.
The last few weeks have been different. Defining. Clarifying. Characterizing. Explaining. Translating. Determining.
As usual, when I let go a little in several areas of my life, and ask a few of the right questions, then poof! the definitions began to appear.
When I entered Group Room number 9, Doug had a delightful diagram to visualize how our spiritual belief systems are complementary, how they probably magnetize us to one another, and how our own spiritual needs and desires relate to/orient around those of others. It was delightfully simple and complicated in all of the ways we love each other best.
[Aside -- This was a week after the Thanksgiving-o' laser-beam-conversations-weekend. (Laser: Short for light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation. A device that produces a nearly parallel, nearly monochromatic, and coherent beam of light by exciting atoms to a higher energy level and causing them to radiate their energy in phase.) In this case, Doug and I were the atoms. The device was the conversation, and the radiation, I suppose, was the combined pressure on each of us from many sources. The light was emitted via the clarity we each gained about the other. Another painfully obvious explanation but lately I delight in pain.]
Back to Group Room number 9. I'd already felt an increased sense of at-home-ness in this already comfy relationship, having survived both the refining pressures of this hellish semester and the laser beam conversations. But talking with Doug about this topic, in this manner, in this location, and in this tone, and watching him get so excited about his (very accurate) insights into "us," made me appreciate down to my very toes how incredibly much I love and value his need to dissect and understand everything to its core components in a way that can be diagrammed on a whiteboard in a group room in a business school library. Especially when it comes to me. Because, remember, it's all about me, and I am complicated. Which is apparently very lovable for someone who likes solving puzzles.
More importantly, I had asked Doug, during a laser-beam conversation the previous weekend, for what my heart told me I needed most in order to feel loved and respected: I need to know that he's trying to understand, and not making fast assumptions. And he did it!
[Aside #2 -- I didn't fully realize just how complicated my thinking pattern is until I attempted to tell Doug about a thought I'd had about some future scenario. The time to think the thought took however long it took me to walk about 100 yards from the parking garage to the crosswalk. Maybe a minute. It turns out that my simple thought required several chapters and a significant appendix in order to fully describe what I was thinking about. My description became increasingly incoherent. By the time I realized this, Doug was staring off into space, probably thinking about Kimchi or cheese or biscuits or noodles. So I just gave up and snuzzled him, and stared into his eyes a lot. I guess I do need someone to solve me.]
It is a time of definition. And there is so much more to learn that is not about me.
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