Tag Archives: meter

Breathtaking

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Breathtaking: (adj) astonishing or awe-inspiring in quality

Always set it low so you can get high.

I’m talking about your “breathtaking meter.”Dictionary B

There is nothing greater, more spine-chilling and exciting than having your breath taken away. The only trouble is, we become easily jaded and start looking at breathtaking events as common.

In doing this, we remove the majority of the joy from our existence and demand that the Universe impress us–as the Universe stands by, waiting to be impressed.

Sitting in a parking lot, I watched a young boy about ten years old eyeball an old lady, who was pushing her cart. He paused, started to walk away, but then turned and offered his help.

I continued to view this glorious scene as he made it to her car, loaded her groceries into the hatchback, and when she offered him money, he refused. As he turned and started to walk away, overwhelmed by the glory of his own deed, he started skipping.

It was breathtaking.

  • It was not the Grand Canyon.
  • It was not Niagara Falls.

But it was in front of me, it was truly unusual, and it was a feast for my eyes, which are always trying to darken the view.

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Affinity

Words from Dic(tionary)

dictionary with letter A

Affinity: (n) a spontaneous or natural liking or sympathy for someone or something

I think it has a meter–yes, an “affinity meter.”

When I was younger I was more intolerant. My affinity for others was based on three criteria:

  1. Do I like them?
  2. Do they have enough money to contribute to a pizza?
  3. Will they be fun?

Anyone who didn’t fall into all three categories was pretty well nixed from my holy circle of friends. I felt fully justified. After all, who wants to be around someone you don’t like, has no cash flow and is a buzz kill?

I don’t know when this transition occurred, but one day it crossed my mind that people have bad days, bad seasons, bad histories, bad relationships, bad luck and bad karma. Sometimes we catch ’em during one of these “sunken” places on their journey instead of at the top of the mountain. And if you start throwing all the heavy boxes overboard, you will eventually get rid of some excellent treasure.

So as I’ve aged, I have changed my “affinity meter.”

  1. Do I like them?
  2. Do I understand why I don’t like them?
  3. Can I hang around long enough to find out if it would be possible for me to like them?

As you can see, the need for pizza money is gone.

Affinity is the awareness that because nothing is perfect and nobody has it all, we gradually take many people into our lives–to piece together the whole experience of fellowship.