Month: February 2022 | the Wakefield Doctrine

RePrint Monday -the Wakefield Doctrine-

February 21, 2022 By clarkscottroger

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

So, in the Comments below, share with us your familiarity with this blog.

Go ahead, it’s a reprint day, so we have, if not plenty of, a sufficient amount of time. If it gets too late, I already gots a post (below). It will serve as content for today. (the reprint in the title?)

A confession: I always feel a little bit guilty about these reprint posts. Being a clark, surely the da Vinci of guilt, I don’t merely endure that third-day-of-a-sunburn discomfit, I embrace it. Surely there is something hidden in the non-rational conviction that there are unknown people in the Readerverse who, seeing that I’ve done more than one of these reprint posts, will …disapprove.

As any clark would tell you, ‘The one thing we do better than scotts and rogers is negotiate the terms of our ransom to unknown agencies’. What we don’t tell ourselves, as we acknowledge that this, this, last time we negotiate with secret terrorist, is that there is no one on the other side of the table, not a single person chasing us, the little room behind the carved-wood sliding door is, in fact, empty.

We remind ourselfs, like any good abused-spouse, not only have we invested too much in this relationship, there are others to consider. And, while we hate to admit to being wrong, we have the well-being of others to consider. So we will keep on keeping on.

… but, there is one, (among a world full of things and beliefs, arguments and convictions), thing that is different: there are other clarks in the world. other clarks we recognize and feel bad for. other clarks we observe learning to be less hard on themselves and we feel a hope. Not one dependent on the stories and tales of people who are presented as models and ideals. We feel hope because we see other clarks and we identify with the least of them and the greatest of them, and, in doing so, we belong.

(from Anno Domino 2014)

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

we all remember this from our undergrad ‘Abnormal Psych’ class, right?

Lets try a little experiment this morning. Two things first:

It’s been established (or, at very least, admitted to) here that, once I’ve engaged in the normal everyday demands of work and family and such, the supply of post-worthy words dries up faster than a 67 year old’s honeymoon

the Wakefield Doctrine is about learning about myself (as much as it is about seeing into the thoughts of you and the other people in my world¹)

So here’s what we’ll do: I’ll write a couple of hundred words about the value and use of the Wakefield Doctrine on a typical Monday morning. I’ll stop writing, take a quick shower, get dressed and start my work day². After an hour or so of work, I’ll come back here and ‘re-write’ this post. Let’s see if this ‘oh-my-god-can’t-you-see-how-incredibly-useful-and-fun’ theory of personality accounts for any change in my day.³

(Here we go)

the Wakefield Doctrine is a perspective on the nature of the world (and the people and things and events that make it up). Properly applied, the Wakefield Doctrine allows me to know more about ‘the other person’, than I have any right to know. With the Wakefield Doctrine, I am way, way less likely to find myself saying, “Now why in the world would they say/do such a thing?! I really thought I knew them better than that!”
As to how I go about ‘knowing more about you than you know about yourself’? All I need do is observe and (correctly) infer how you are relating yourself to the world around you. Are you acting like an Outsider? Do you sound like you are experiencing the situation as would a Predator or are you simply comfortable with the situation, as comfortable as a Member of the Herd? Once I know that (about) you, I can anticipate not only how you will react to a situation or interaction, I can get a glimpse of the world as you are experiencing it. This last is the most challenging aspect of the Wakefield Doctrine. Knowing that the other person (may) be perceiving the world differently than I am, even though we are both in the same room, hell! there’s no one here in the break room except you and me and all we’re doing is talking about the job we both have (the same job) and yet….somehow, you are reacting to it in a way that is totally at odds with the way that I would! that is the power of the Wakefield Doctrine

…oh yeah, the other part? If I want to… I can see parts of myself in a new light. This is not always such fun, but I can if I choose. The thing that this Wakefield Doctrine says to us is, ‘hey, you’re experiencing the world as (a clark or a scott or a roger)…. you have the right and the capability to see the world, experience the world as do ‘the other two personality types’…so don’t worry about:

not understanding (hey clark!! 2/3s of life is not about understanding or knowing or figuring out shit! but don’t let your brain trick you… you got this!)

not being ready (scott! yo… sure you’re always quick ….you’re even as smart as all them, don’t give it a second thought, what they seem to think they know that you don’t know? doesn’t matter…’cause you do!

nope, they’re not talking about you, roger… and even if there are moments when you think you can’t continue your efforts, that everyone has turned away, it’s not true. don’t give it a second thought

…alright. that’s what I have while I am still in ‘simple clark‘ mode.

stop back later this morning and lets see how it looks after I’ve had to engage in the ‘real’ world for a couple of fun-filled hours!

1) ok, it’s still about that, but I’m trying to establish my premise, so cut me some slack, ok?

2) meaning, I’ll check my email, do a couple of things, go to the office, check a couple of things and then come back to this Post…oh, probably around 9:55 am

3) no, I do believe you are that trusting! lol…. as a matter of fact, no I don’t think of what I’m writing as the product of a writer, telling whatever story I choose… I actually think of this as a record of my experiences, somehow converted to public display mode

Filed Under: Featured, Psychology, the Wakefield Doctrine Tagged With: self-development, the Wakefield Doctrine, Understanding Human Behavior

TToT -the Wakefield Doctrine- Take2

February 20, 2022 By clarkscottroger

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

This being the Doctrine’s contribution to the Ten Things of Thankful (TToT) bloghop, we cite the following people, places and things as being, what the writing books refer to as ‘inciting incidents’. Gratitude-istically-speaking, of course.

1) Phyllis

2) Una

3) the Wakefield Doctrine

4) Six Sentence Story

5) Serial stories and imaginary worlds (specifically: ‘the Whitechapel Interlude‘, ‘the Case of the Missing Fig Leaf‘ and ‘the Six Sentence Cafe and Bistro’)

6) Our recent landscaping project has resulted in the equivalent of moving from a secluded glade to a minor promontory. It’s an open secret we enjoy dramatic weather. Particularly since the addition of a whole house generator (see Grat 8). Say what you will about severe weather and such, but a rain storm with gale-force wind from a southeasterly direction: muy enjoyabello… The thing about heavy winds (second only to ocean storms, not currently available in our geo-financial area), is the sound. When experienced in a forested (or, at very least, a heavily wooded locale), its very much what one would imagine a slow-avalanche would sound like; the wind acquires a directionality thats quite distinctive. And …and the coolest thing is that the wind (in a storm) is simply not a sole, unitary movement of air. It is a roaming and raging of non-human intentionality, if wolves were gigantic and composed of air and fury, they would sound like a wind storm. Since the great tree clearing this autumn passed. the sonic landscape is more the aforementioned ‘on-a-promontory’ and less the ‘in the woods’. There’s a definite 3D enhancement happening as you can hear distant winds approach with greater clarity.

7) To stay focused enough to write a Grat, as it occurs, rather than to wait until Saturday, (or Sunday!), morning to transcribe the memory, is kinda fun. Full disclosure: still a process like writing, so, in effect, I’m re-telling a story through at last count, three drafts.

8) The whole house generator. It allows, ‘Hey! Big storm coming… to become ‘Hey! Big Storm coming!!! The difference is between, ‘Shit! better fill the bath tub’ and … Where’s my Robin Trower album’)

9) something, something

10) Secret Rule 1.3 (from the Book of Secret Rules, aka the Secret Book of Rules)

music

Filed Under: Featured, Psychology, the Wakefield Doctrine Tagged With: the Wakefield Doctrine

Friday -the Wakefield Doctrine- “like they used to be.”

February 18, 2022 By clarkscottroger

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

(Am fighting the temptation to write a Doctrine post on Friday(s)… surely one of the most quietly potent days of the work week.)

But I shan’t!*

Here’s a post from 2018. It was the guest of times, it was the wurst of times.

(Actually, true story: the Finish the Sentence Friday was my gateway bloghop. Thanks to Kristi and Janine and Kenya and them, I started joining in and getting hooked on comments. We’ve all been there.)

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

If you aren’t in a hurry and have read the line above the photo, you’ve all the warning you are going to be afforded. That’s not meant to be aggressive or adversarial or sound like I’m being a dick. It’s just that ~~sometimes~~ very often, in order for me to participate in a bloghop, particularly one in which the contributors are real people and possessed of considerable skills, well, I just have to give myself the slip.

Trust me, it’s better this way.

Where was I?

Finish The Sentence Friday. Kristi and Kenya and them are all over the Listicle thing. (jeez… I hope I have that right) I better cut ‘n paste the instructions and such.

Hi all! We’re on with the Listicle week of FTSF with “10 things that are better than anything except being in love.” The linkup will open up at 10pm tomorrow, Feb. 8 (eastern). Interpret as you see fit and join us! The party stays open through late Sunday evening so there’s plenty of time.
Write your listicle, and head over to Kenya‘s site at https://www.kenyagjohnson.com/ or mine at http://www.findingninee.com. Hope to see you there

1) ‘List formats’ because, if you don’t have any content to start off, they’re real simple to outline. In fact, simply writing out the numbers (with parenthesizes and not letting the auto-format editor force you into meaningless indents), goes a long way to start the process.

2) Getting the first line written in a post. Ernest Hemingway, (not to be confused with Doug Henning) is believed to have said, ‘The first draft of anything is shit‘. That’s got to make you wonder what the first draft of that advice looked like.

3) To get way serious for a minute, if pressed for time, I could, in fact, list a number of things in my life that are ‘better than anything except being in love‘. The problem is that I participate in a weekend bloghop called the ‘Ten Things of Thankful’. It is a grat ‘hop and in it we list the things in our lives that elicit a feeling of gratitude. The problem with that is, I’m a clark. It’s not that clarks don’t have emotions, (or are not emotional), it’s just that we’re kinda the Ikea of the three personality types. You know, cleverly designed with a great finished look, some assembly required. We (clarks) have as large a capacity for emotion as scotts and rogers, we just don’t always read instructions real good and, like a RTA bed, if you’re in a hurry to use it, you don’t always end up with what you see in the picture on the box. Though you can sleep in it (or on it).

4) Hey! you know what I like? A bloghop that I curate called ‘the Gravity Challenge’‘. (It is such a clarklike bloghop! lol) It’s a weight gain/loss ‘hop. It serves an accountability function (that can be helpful in one’s efforts to self-improve-oneself). Simplicity itself. We send on photos of the readout on our scale every morning except Sunday. The cool thing is Kristi’s Rule. (Kristi Brierley is one of the charter members and when I suggested the idea of simply taking a photo, she added the element that makes the ‘hop effective… the photo can be all or part of the readout, either side of the decimal.) The point being, the participation is about change, not a set goal or number. It’s fun.

5) I will resist the temptation to list my other bloghops… wait, there’s only one other, zoe’s Six Sentence Story. It’s a fun exercise and perfect for my efforts at remedial composition. (God, if only I paid attention in high school English instead of trying to learn the lead riff to ‘Sunshine of My Love’… hell, by now I’d be…)

6) The halfway point in any List-format bloghop is totally one of my favorite things. (Perhaps a far distant second to being in love… my definition of which, given the demographic ’round here, I’m totally loathe to reveal. It’s not just being a clark. It’s being from Y Chromia. A mystical land where all good efforts are rewarded with loud noises and un-conditional admiration.)

7) I should return to the issue of clarks and emotion. Maybe not. clarks reading this know what I mean. scotts and rogers will also know, provided they have significant secondary clarklike aspects. (the Doctrine maintains that while we are the personality type that reflects one personal reality (that of the Outsider, the Predator or the Herd Member), we have the potential of secondary and tertiary aspects. As an example, I’m a clark which means I should not be hitting ‘Publish’ on this post. I have a secondary scottian aspect, and so I have known to, in certain circumstances, run up and get in people’s faces and shout, ‘Hey!’)

8) I suspect any number of people here will have listed ‘family’ (and individual family components) by now in their respective lists. And that is as it should be. I, for one, read Dana’s posts and think… ‘See, clark? A post can be organized and logical and coherent and still convey genuine heartfelt emotion.’ Or the great ‘look at the photos and I will tell you a tale that launches from there’ of Tamara, or the personal journal directness of Kenya (where you feel the elements of her life that she shares). Janine, well, Janine is probably the longest-standing commenter here at the Doctrine (don’t hold that against her). No, don’t even get me started on Kristi Campbell... When I first snuck in the FTSF, she not only didn’t rat me out, she made me feel like I could relax. (Unfortunately she also wrote blogposts that, as I read, inspired visuals of my computer (trailing the keyboard) flying out my windows and crashing into a million pieces on the deck. But I somehow didn’t.)

9) For me, however, (with my clarklike appreciation for the ‘real’ world) when it comes to family, (Phyllis and Una), I go to the things, the features in the world that they have formed and created and even, remodeled. This photo is not simply of a woman, a dog and a treehouse. It is a representation of the part of my reality that is pretty damn amazing.

10) Speaking of pretty amazing. Here is a photo of Ola. She was the best thing that ever happen to me.

* no, really… still a legit word**

** in old Downtown Abbey episodes and blogs that eschew the simple and direct when engaged in rhetoric***

*** lol

Filed Under: Featured, Psychology, the Wakefield Doctrine Tagged With: psychology of personality, self-improvement, the Wakefield Doctrine

Six Sentence Story -the Wakefield Doctrine-

February 17, 2022 By clarkscottroger

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

This is the Six Sentence Story blophop

Denise is the host.

The prompt word is:

RAMBUNCTIOUS

You stare at your computer, the week’s prompt word standing alone, half-way down the left side of bloghop host’s homepage, when you begin to feel something odd; it’s as if your thoughts are appearing somewhere behind your eyes in 12-point Times New Roman, with a one inch margin on all sides.

As the existential fear, the state of mind more commonly associated with one’s first semester away at college or the moment you realize your date hasn’t said no to anything since being seated at the best table in the most expensive of restaurants, grows, the thought ticker-tapes through your mind, ‘This can’t be happening, they’ll never buy a shift in POV’.

The man, his face a bas-relief carved in LED light and incredulity, looks at his reflection in the window of the second-bedroom-turned-home-office as if to assure himself the momentary sense of disassociation is nothing more than his over-active imagination daring him to stay the course, the thrill wrestled with reasonable fear, like teenagers driving on backroads with the headlights off; surely his syntactical vandalism would not result in any lasting damage.

‘Ignore the voices in your head and type the last two sentences,’ seeing the words appear on the screen, he smiled at the hint of an approaching metaphor; the anticipation of the words ‘was like’, made the sultry whisper of the most beautiful of courtesans, beckoning a suitor, sound like an acned teenager shouting from a drive-through window, ‘You want fries with that?’

“Dude, that’s my jam,” pushing back in my chair, I realized I’d copy-pasted from the draft of an entirely un-related post, and the sentence, from a narrative point-of-view relegated to the middle third of the post, was no longer germane; counting the preceding sentences, I decided that getting across the finish line was, to channel Vince Lombardi, the only thing that mattered.

Recalling the years of weekly Six Sentence Stories, and Thursday sunrises fashioning stories that, not infrequently, insisted on being published, quality notwithstanding, I felt like a child, determined not to eat the previous night’s vegetables, struggling to remain awake at two o’clock in the morning, his mother asleep at the head of the table, maturity surrendering to the irrational endurance of youthful stubbornness; I got up from my desk, the all-caps, bold-print word: RAMBUNCTIOUS on the screen calling to me like that kid in the Alan Ladd cowboy picture from the 1950s, ‘clark! clark! come back’.

Filed Under: Featured, Psychology, the Wakefield Doctrine Tagged With: Six Sentence Story, the Wakefield Doctrine

RePrint Monday -the Wakefield Doctrine-

February 14, 2022 By clarkscottroger

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

It’s always fun and educational to find a post suitable to repost for an calendar-specific occasion. Meaning, major holidays, seasonal transitions and milestones.

No! Wait! Not a milestone. (Sorry, hypo-youthful Readers! Not that kind of milestone.)

lol ayyiee! There’s a post waiting to be written. Death and life’s progression. Someone remind us and we’ll write about it later in the week. Lest we forget: the Doctrine is age neutral.

No, this is more in the realm of the Mondane (ha ha). A reprint from 2012.

“No, it’s ok! I’m a Saint.”

St Valentines is the worst, most contrived and cynical, gyno-centric guy-bait(ing), toy-with-the-emotions-of-innocent-bystanders, holiday on the whole damn calendar. Of course we are all familiar with the origin of the holiday and the internet is positively turgid with countless blogs, and stories and articles that tell us all about Hallmark and the candy industry and the rest of the sordid tale of this day in February. I will not try to compete with these other more skilled and capable Commentators ( and -torinis), as I do not have the time or the ‘writing chops’ to do such a ripe topic justice. Instead, let me tell you about my most lasting memory of Valentines Day.

Third grade, parochial school (Sr. Imelda) and a classroom of 25 students. The boys were required to wear blue shirts and blue ties with OLM printed on the front, fortunately ‘clip-on ties’ had been invented by this time, so easy-peasy; the girls wore the catholic school uniform, i.e. plaid skirts white shirt, socks. damn, little did I realize at that pre-pubescent time of my life how potent that little Roman Catholic Church fashion dictates would become for me and countless other men at a later stage of life.
So with much fanfare, Valentine’s Day arrives and we 9-year-old boys and girls are told that in the afternoon, before the end of the school day, we would have time to deliver our Valentine cards to each other. ( The day before we spent ‘Art Period’ making little baskets out of construction paper and taping them to the front of our desks. These would serve as ‘mailboxes’ for the cards we would receive the next day).
The thing was, the horrible twist to this introduction to the world of love, relationships and rejection was that, the time when class stopped and we were allowed to get up and deliver our little cards was not the end of the school day! It was right after lunch… and it lasted 15 or 20 minutes…as in ‘ now return to your desks and we will continue with the afternoon’ classes’. To sit for 90 minutes staring at the contents of the container on the front of my desk… I will leave it to the Reader to decide the emotional landscape of that afternoon on a February 14th.

Anyone out there not comfortable with finishing the story, or satisfied with their conclusion of this little tale, write us a Comment! ~~Regular Readers~~ Students of the Doctrine know that the rogers gave the biggest cards, the scotts received the most cards and the clarks delivered the most cards(….secretly without the recipient ever knowing who the really fun card came from.)

Now I better get back to work, before I get in trouble.

*edited for content and times**

** as in, ‘to account for the experience of (the) reality during which the events forming the subject of the post actually occurred and the effect of the passing time since, and it’s effect on the author.