Paradox

: a person with seemingly self-contradictory qualities.

     My husband and I have been working our way through Dave Ramsey’s “Financial Peace University.”  In one of the first lessons he identifies the two common and opposite personalities as related to money that make up a marriage:  the free spirit and the nerd.  Partway through this lesson my husband paused the DVD and commented, “you’re a mix of both, don’t you think?”  True to our usual, I was just thinking the same thing.  He is also a mix of both.  And that’s not only true about me relative to money.  I often surprise myself at what seem like inconsistent and contradictory attitudes, thought patterns and actions.

     This morning I hear my free spirit self saying “go ahead and explore that interest” about a new creative outlet that has captured my attention, while my nerd self is saying “if you do that, you’ll never finish or start the other ideas you’ve had.”  My free spirit self is rejoicing that “scanner" mode is operational (as Barbara Sher terms it).   What does it matter if I don’t finish or start the other ideas?  Pursuing the thing that interests and enlivens equals joy and refreshment, because it means I actually do something instead of only think about doing something.

Are you a free spirit, a nerd or a mix of both?

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