Month: April 2013 | the Wakefield Doctrine - Part 2 Month: April 2013 | the Wakefield Doctrine - Part 2

the Wakefield Doctrine (the theory of clarks, scotts and rogers) ‘…a unique, productive and fun insight into the behavior of the people in our lives’

April 23, 2013 By

Welcome to the Wakefield Doctrine (the theory of clarks, scotts and rogers)

As promised, we will now address the question on the minds of many Readers,  “…what the hell good is this Doctrine thing? We’ve read the Posts and freely admit that we like the sound of this theory of clarks, scotts and rogers.  It all makes sense but… enough with the allegory and theory! Lets hear what it can do to help with real life situations and such!”

 

From Friend of the Doctrine Amy:

I guess I would really like to know how to manage these scotts effectively without getting all worked up and out of whack. Do you know what I mean? I stay all calm for the most part and then they push and insist and try to tell me what I think (even though I know quite well what I think and it’s not what they want me to think)….and then I get mad and very direct and maybe a little more assertive than I am comfortable with. It takes me another two days to calm down after such a confrontation. Can you tell I just had such a confrontation? It’s three days later and I’m still thinking / analyzing / worrying about it. And I’m sure the Scott in questions never gave it a second thought!

Thanks Amy! (Amy is a Friend of the Doctrine who writes ‘Adorable Chaos’ …more than just a mommyblog, her observations and insights, while often focused on family and teaching, have a certain subtle edge (and secret humor) that you will enjoy reading it.) This is a great Question!

…next question?1

You’ve heard the saying,  ‘the Wakefield Doctrine is for you, not for them’, lets start with the second of the two questions implicit in the above scenario.

“…It’s three days later and I’m still thinking / analyzing / worrying about it.”2

Remember the last time you got all, “…I-can-rake-the-whole-yard!-I’ve-got-it-halfway-done-already-I-can’t-stop-now!” ?
Now recall what we say about the three personality types: clarks think, scotts act and rogers feel.
What we mean by this is not just that we clarks are given to introspection or scotts go from impulsive act to impulsive act, or even that rogers change moods like a girl changes clothes… no! we mean that, (in our respective worldviews), this is how we are.

Your feeling ‘out of sorts’ for days after your successfully overcoming the attempt by a scott to dominate you, is simply being stiff and sore, just like if you raked the whole damn yard on a Saturday afternoon in October.  Now, being a clark, what you need to ease the aches (god, don’t you love metaphors stretched almost to their breaking points?),  is something rational, yet still in the realm of what got you sore in the first place.3, i.e. exerting yourself dealing with a scott.
So, next time this happens, after you have overcome the scott in question, but sooner than 3 days of reflection later, go back to them and remind them of whatever it was that you (finally) did to get them to stop and behave. Depending on how much time has passed (since) the initial confrontation, you will find yourself less and less inclined to do this, preferring to keep everything in your head, on familiar ground. You will think to yourself that it might be best to ‘let sleeping dogs lie’.  ( …lol)

Now lets consider the first question (inherent in) your most excellent scenario:

“…even though I know quite well what I think and it’s not what they want me to think… I’m sure the Scott in questions never gave it a second thought!”

You are totally correct. They did not, they do not.
That is the charm, the strength, the limitation, hell! it’s the definition of the scottian worldview. They act. They live in the here and now, they act on the basis of the immediate, not the abstract .
You do not.
However, if you keep in mind that scotts view dominance and ranking as simply the way the world is and not (this is critical and alien to a clark) … not as a statement of worth or value or anything like that, you will be able to deal with them in their context, but on your terms and everything will be a lot more better.  for you…. (they won’t understand any of this, but explanations are for clarks, not for scotts.)

I hope this helps, Amy. Thank you for the scenario, yo.

1)  ha ha come on! you didn’t see that coming? No?? you might be at the wrong blog then,  if you were looking for totally straight on, sincere- to-a-fault self-improvement advice, you might be better going somewhere else.

2) Any Reader who cannot identify with this, you better go to the section on clarks.

3)  but, like being sore after too much raking, the exercises here are most effective when done as soon after the exertion as possible.

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Lets start the Week…lots to do, not a lot of time* the Wakefield Doctrine (you’re gonna enjoy this week)

April 21, 2013 By

Welcome to the Wakefield Doctrine (the theory of clarks, scotts and rogers)

 

So, we’ll see you all this week…it should be a unique, productive and fun week at the Doctrine.  (where have I heard that before? oh yeah! here…)

The Wakefield Doctrine is a unique, productive and fun way to look at the behavior of people in our lives. Using the perspective afforded by the theory of clarks, scotts and rogers, you will never need find yourself saying, ‘now, why in the world would they go and do something like that? I really thought I knew the better than that!”
Born with the potential to live in one of three (characteristic) personal realities (aka worldviews) we become the Outsider (clarks), Predators (scotts) or Herd Members (rogers). The important thing is that even though the world we have all woken up to this morning can be seen as one of these three, we all have the capability to see the world as the ‘other two’  and that is where the value of this Wakefield Doctrine is to be found.


We’ll be spending this week showing how the Wakefield Doctrine can be used to see alternatives that may not be immediately apparent. Our starting points will be Comments received from Amy and Considerer and DownSpring Cyndi in the last couple of weeks.

 

 

* hey clarks!  do not get us started on how we tend to view the future as unlimited and therefore available for ‘re-takes’

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Finish (no, don’t think) The Sentence (doesn’t matter what you think ) Friday the Wakefield Doctrine

April 19, 2013 By

Welcome to the Wakefield Doctrine (the theory of clarks, scotts and rogers)

…from the Bloggarini: Janine and Kate and Stephanie and Dawn  comes this sentence fragment:

“I thought I was so cool when I…”

…. when I (“…no! you ended up, at 5 years old running from 13 year olds because you thought it was a good idea to throw rocks at the kids while they tried to play baseball”),  oh!  yeah!! the time I…. (“…yeah, you gonna include the part about how you went to the Burger Chef after the game and bought 2 meals, with shakes!  and sat in  your car alone laughing to yourself?  no, I didn’t think so”),  hold on  there has to be some time, some event in your life that made you think that you were cool.

Everyone’s waiting!

…college ? maybe that psych experiment with the room with the one-way mirror, (“… dude this is a GP rated blog hop, don’t even think it!”),  the years playing in rock and roll bands?  (“…how could there not be a time that you didn’t think you were cool? …the time you lit your hair on fire?…. lol, no, that is not what they are going for here…”)

Excuse me?  Can I get a consult here?  When you ( Janine and Kate and Stephanie and Dawn) say  ‘cool’ do you mean cool as:

  • cool can be traced back to Aristotle, whose notion of cool is to be found in his ethical writings, most particularly the Nicomachean Ethics
  •  an admired aesthetic of attitude, behavior, comportment, appearance and style, influenced by and a product of the Zeitgeist.
  • a general state of well-being, a transcendent, internal peace and serenity
  • “Aristocratic cool”, known as sprezzatura, has existed in Europe for centuries, particularly when relating to frank amorality and love or illicit pleasures behind closed doors; Raphael’s “Portrait of Baldassare Castiglione” and Leonardo da Vinci’s “Mona Lisa” are classic examples of sprezzatura. The sprezzatura of the Mona Lisa is seen in both her smile and the positioning of her hands. Both the smile and hands are intended to convey her grandeur, self-confidence and societal position. Sprezzatura means, literally, disdain and detachment. It is the art of refraining from the appearance of trying to present oneself in a particular way.  (“…getting warm!”)
  • …cites a definition of cool from the Gola people of Liberia, who define it as the ability to be mentally calm or detached, in an other-worldly fashion, from one’s circumstances, to be nonchalant in situations where emotionalism or eagerness would be natural and expected

Bingo! Put me down for that last definition.

The only time I can think of myself as being cool was the week that my dog Ola died. This as in the year 2000, somehow 13 years ago!  It was a genetic, systemic problem,  basically her systems shut down gradually. We took her  to Tufts Small Animal Hospital, we had every possible test and treatment done. But to no avail. There were two incidents that remain in my mind (actually every incident during that week remains with me) but these are the two:

  1. On Wednesday morning of that week, we had to take Ola in for more tests in the afternoon, unfortunately, she was having a good morning and was sitting on the couch when it was time to go. Ola was a German Shepherd, about 85 pounds, so not easy to lift. But I had to carry her to the car that morning. I bent to pick her up and had a bad lift position or something, because it caused her pain, so she put her mouth on my right hand. Unfortunately I was ‘committed to the lift’ and couldn’t stop… she closed her mouth just enough to press her teeth a little more firmly… (all this is in about 15 seconds), I tried to change my carrying position, but I only made it worse and for the third time, she applied a little more pressure. It hurt. I finally got her back down on the couch. My eyes stung for a second, but we tried again. I got a comfortable grip on her and we made it to her appointment.
  2. On Friday of that week, we went to the animal hospital to get Ola to bring her home (she did one overnight on Thursday, the day before). My wife Phyllis and I stood in the waiting room, looking down the corridor which lead to the treatment rooms. The student orderly (this is a veterinary teaching school) pushed a gurney through the swinging doors wheeling Ola towards where we stood. We could see Ola before she could see us. She was strapped down to the gurney, of course, and they had a muzzle on her. What we saw as the Primal Dog. ( lol!)  Her teeth were totally bared and she had her eyes fixated on the throat of the young veterinarian intern student. An incredibly ferocious look. Then, as the gurney moved closer to the Waiting Room, Ola caught sight of  Phyllis and me standing there and, somehow  she managed to convey such an expression of sheepish embarrassment…at being caught …wanting to eat her caregiver. We laughed. She kept giving side long glances at her intended prey…then back to us ears back and smiling.

We were both cool that week.

 

Thanks to Wikipedia for the lifeline on the above definitions: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cool_(aesthetic)

 

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the Wakefield Doctrine ( hey, you know, you’re right! …who doesn’t *love* a Survey?)

April 18, 2013 By

Welcome to the Wakefield Doctrine (the theory of clarks, scotts and rogers)

Lets start with a few questions, in the form of multiple choice Polls.

 

Well, that was more work than I remember! (Creating a Poll, that is.)

OK  everyone answer the Poll? Great! Good work everyone…. (no, scott you can’t go back and change your answer…one vote per Reader. alright… the next Poll you can use capital letters in your answer, we promise).

The Second Poll has to do with which of the ‘other two’ personality types do we focus on first. Lets put that a little clearer… you are a clark or a scott or a roger. fine. you live with (or near) clarks, scotts and rogers, you interact with all three personality types everyday (and every night). You would like to know how you can change the tone, the feeling of, the outcome to, the process of, these interact

 

Sorry… getting too clarklike

hey, which of the three personality types do you want to concentrate on first?

Great! Thank you for the input. What we will be doing is, based on the result of these two initial Polls, looking at the three personality types from the perspective of ‘the other person’…which will be you…or us or me… you know what I mean. And we will work through all the combinations so no one will be over-looked. This will be presented in an on-going series, not sure if it will be on certain days of the week every week or just one day of the week or what…lets just see how it develops.

So lets see some Voting with today’s 2 Poll Questions so we can get started!

(what?  Janine, did you say something? well, no that you mention it, that does sound like a good idea… no, I don’t think that the scotts will get mad)

Hey everyone, before you go…one more question…an Essay Question!

( now Terrye   stop that!  Janine was just being helpful… yes she does like to write, no, that doesn’t mean you can do that… just answer the Essay Question… no, leave the pencil at your desk)

ESSAY QUESTION: (please use your Comment section)

I would like the Wakefield Doctrine to show me how I can:

 

pencils down!…Amy!!  Cyndi!!  Melanie, yes, I know, but you have to stop now…it’s time to go to recess…

 

 

 

 

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the Wakefield Doctrine …a theory of personality types, (insight into) behavior and a tool (for self-development)

April 17, 2013 By

Welcome to the Wakefield Doctrine (the theory of clarks, scotts and rogers)

 

So.

…any questions?

the Wakefield Doctrine is a way to choose (one’s) responsibility. responsibility as in, ‘but honey! you promised!‘, ‘don’t worry, I got your back’, ‘for a very small investment, you can guarantee your family’s financial security’, ‘tell me that you love me’, ‘are you going to stay in your room all week with those damn videos games?‘ ‘study hard and you’ll make something of yourself’,  ‘why can’t you be more like...’

One might say, our individual responsibilities are as much a function of who we are (or would be) as it is anything that others place upon us. Whether we take on responsibility, say for having children or finding the perfect animal family member or someone else gives us responsibility, in the case of work or school or friends who need our help, how we define ourselves is an often overlooked consideration. …which is really, really too bad because in most cases, how we define ourselves makes all the difference.

The Wakefield Doctrine, maintains that in order to understand ourselves and other people, we need to understand which of the three worldviews the person (under consideration) is living in, we say one should infer,  ‘…how a person is relating themselves to the world around them.’
Note that we did not say, ‘how a person relates to the world’ or ‘how a person feels about’…etc etc. No, we said ‘how a person relates themselves to the world’.

We’re bringing this up now because it is time to move beyond being entirely focused on identifying the three personality types of the Doctrine, (the Outsiders that are the clarks, the Predator but fun most of the time scotts and the rogers, who are so nice most of the time) in the people in our lives and start to work on how this thing can be used to improve our own damn lives and such.

(I know you are all ready to move on with this thing of ours).

…to be continued

 

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