Tag: connections

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Friend DNA

Double Helix DNAWhat makes some people more interesting than others? I know generally from the first few moments I meet someone whether or not they will mesh with me as friends. Yes, I believe in friends at first sight. There’s just a connection that is either made or not right off the bat, and I think that’s true of most people, actually. I know that some of my best friends throughout the years have shared that similarity. That’s not to say that some friends I’ve met didn’t share that connection from the start. Those are what I call “hardworking” friendships. But there’s just something about the friend DNA.

DNA is the basic component of life. It accounts for not only the color of one’s skin but also for the level of one’s temperament. It affects a person’s sense of humor, musical ability, and competitive spirit. That also means some people are hardwired to be shy around newcomers, to be afraid of public speaking, or to be outgoing. It can even affect the filters we have when it comes to ourselves. Are we delusional about our strengths and weaknesses or do we own up to them and fight through those weaknesses to become stronger as individuals?

All of that can affect what kind of friend we end up being, or what kinds of people will complement us as friends. Notice that I used the word “can,” because no one can predict what will happen when people come together, but just like when addictive personalities get together, the result can be negative for both people involved.

So what does your friend DNA say about you? Do you get along better with people who are most like you, people who are most unlike you, or people who are in-between? Is there even an absolute? Continue reading “Friend DNA”

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They Look Like Me

172ed83726173dc62f915b2c297cdfafHow do we recognize others? By a walk, by a tone, by a cadence in their bones. By a feeling we get when they enter a room, or the smell of them, like cologne or perfume. By the way their smile reaches their eyes, and how seeing them makes the time fly. By the reflection of them we see in ourselves, or the hope that blooms, the spring that wells. Do we recognize others in the things that they do? Or do they all just look like you?

We spend our whole lives walking around in a world full of people who are as different from us as night is from day. We talk to them, and laugh when them, and cry with them too. They do us favors, and we return them. We connect with them on a certain level, and depending on who they are as individuals, they relate to us on the same level. And while we are all different, it is human nature to search for ways of connection, for the ways we are the same, and we cling to those similarities because those are mirrors that reflect ourselves back to us. Because human nature is also selfish.

Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that every person in the world is selfish. Many people work extremely hard to be selfless, or to care for others above themselves, and that’s highly admirable. It is those people we usually recognize because they’re different. Their souls resonate in a different way to us because their caring is evident. But the vast majority of people we come in contact with aren’t that way, so we can relate to them, we can dissect them and find the parts that work like ours. They are familiar, and that’s comforting. Continue reading “They Look Like Me”