Capability
“the ability to do something”
I love the simplicity and directness of this definition. It doesn’t state how well or how poorly the doing of the something is done…just that the ability is there to do “something”. It reminds us that we are all capable of doing something. Yes, some people (or maybe a lot of people) can do it far better than we can and just as likely…we can do something far better than others…either way it doesn’t take away our ability to do that something. When I think about it, we’re the only ones stopping ourselves from having the ability to anything.
In the early days of web sites, when it helped to know HTML in order create web pages, I taught my students how at our local community college. By this time I’d been developing web sites for about 7 years and had a background in teaching at a business college. One of the first things I told my students was “you can swear all you want in this class…what I don’t want to hear are the ‘stoopid’ words (stupid, dumb, idiot, and so on) especially in reference to themselves, their class work, or to their questions.”
I suggested that whenever they’re feeling inclined to use any of those “stoopid” words, to instead use the word “silly”. So, instead of having a stoopid question, you would say “I have a silly question”. Instead of calling yourself “stoopid”, say “I’m being silly today”. Instead of calling the computer “stoopid”, call it silly. It worked like a charm and our classes were a joy.
The other word I wouldn’t allow in my classroom was the word “can’t” because, as I would tell them…there are only two real meanings behind ‘can’t’…either “I won’t” or “I’m not able to”…with “I’m not able to” I can show you how…with “I won’t”, that’s an attitude problem, and if you’re open to it, I can help you with that too.”
I have found that the mindset of “I can’t” and/or the calling of ourselves some form of “stoopid”, keep us from being able to do “anything”. So stop it! If you’re not able to do something and you want to be able to do it, then ask for help…the ability to seek help is probably our most powerful tool in our human tool box. Use it!
How about you? Is capability a core value for you?
BTW…here’s what it looked like to begin with …
joyfully,
Maureen
The Mandala Lady
🌟 bringing sanity to an insane world through the art of mandalas
About the 2024 Mandalas of the Day
Each day I will create and post a mandala inspired by one of 366 “value” words chosen randomly. The objective being to discover for myself which ones would best represent my core values…and by doing so, I hope it inspires you to determine your own.
Mandala of the Day 