Anyone done any Listening lately?

I am So brilliant. Aren't you?


Politics and politics, and religion and REFORM and politics, politics, politics, politics, and dammit if I didn't promise myself a long time ago that I would never venture into these topics, and I would always keep it philosophical and creative.


But how the hell can I avoid it without railing myself with a brick in order to keep my promise? 


How!?


It's everywhere. It's engulfing - with its flames and its poisons and its know-hows and boohoos.


BLAH blah blah... that's all I hear anymore when those surrounding me talk about especially politics and religion.


So what's a girl to do?


Everyone is soo incredibly impressed with themselves for Everything that They know and are So entitled to their opinions. That you MUST listen to.


And copyrights.                                                                        And independence.
          
       And freedom-to-Do-or-Say-anything-I-want-no-matter-the-consequences.


And things.                                                                            And T.V. shows.


And blah .                     -               I heard it.


      blah . .                      -               Oh yea, where?


           blah . . .                 -                Y'know. From those people. At that source. With the stuff.


                blah . . . .            -                 Oh.. oh! Right! Of course I know. Yea, man. 


                    double blah.


What happened to them? What happened to the men and women patiently and silently and humbly listening to others opinions BEFORE deciding that the one they were listening to was an opposing one? Where the hell did they go?


So irresponsible.


So inexcusably rude.


So arrogant.


Every last one of us.


Every time I go anywhere and any one of those subjects come up - I end up feeling as though I've been suddenly surrounded by a crowd of raving five-year-old know-it-alls Screaming at the top of their lungs,


               I know the Best candy better than you!!


        I tasted it first!


                     But I can buy it cheaper than you!


              Mine tasted So much sweeter than yours!


And you know what?


I quickly turn into one of the babbling, blustering, boiling, raving, proud and loud. 
     Lunatics. We're all lunatics.


And we should be ashamed of ourselves.


The only exception I can even wrangle up is possibly my grandfather, or my father. Being men of few words, typically, they each only interrupt, interject, or speak strongly when they know, better than anyone, for absolute certain, not only that the party is interested, but also that they are more knowledgeable about the subject at hand. 


and you know what else? When they are introduced to something new, from someone more knowledgeable than themselves. They listen!!!! Intently.


When did our poorly sourced citations, lazy grapevine gossip, book scanning and magazine reading become so deserving of our arrogance? Where do we got off?


Seriously?


When was the last time you spoke to someone about any of those things who patiently listened, and paid attention, before attempting to attack you with not a more confident, but a more knowledgeable rebuttal?


I'm having a hard time remembering myself..


We all desire, for the most part, the same simple things.


But everyone wants to sit around and fight, and nag, and fight - and point out to everyone, but themselves, how wrong they are.


Like babies begging for attention.


Do me a favor; next time you go to talk to someone about politics, or religion (or anything that tends to prompt your arrogant pride into full force) - show some self control. 


Think before you speak. Listen before you think (I believe this is an important step we often leave out as well).


Analyze the jump before you leap - 
          or we're all just going to end up in the pit, dragging it all down with us.


I'll try to do the same.










               

Anecdotal Nonsense on Dating and the Dreaded Red Button...

Aaaaannnnnd.. she's still awake. Perplexed and unable to escape her thoughts.

Nothing new about that, eh?

On Dating


I was thinking..

Isn't it funny the things we say - the person we sometimes become when we're in the dating stage of life?

Silly, really.

Wouldn't it be so much easier to just take a deep breath and be ourselves?

So, why the hell don't we?

This game of anxiety and nervousness.. overanalyzing every little movement and word. Part of it is the romanticism of the thing itself, I suppose.

But, when, WHY did people ever become so scared? So fake...

I see it as an invisible box that we put ourselves into. When you're first meeting someone, your mind initially shifts to the "socially acceptable" box (which, let's face it - no one truly knows the answer to what this is - thus begins the circle of confusion.. winding us into an abyss of god knows what's next) feeling the ins and outs of what might make this person find you crazy or odd.

Anxiety is a funny thing.

But what really got me thinking, besides the obvious danger of the socially acceptable box thing (throw that one away - forever. Do it right now, I order you), is the red button.

The dreaded red button....

What's the red button, you say?

Remember when you were a kid and there was "that" thing - that One thing that was the equivalent to Not pushing the red button? The One thing you weren't supposed to do?

Do you remember the way you felt when they (in this case, probably your parents or older sibling) told you not to do it? Do you remember asking why? Do you remember how Badly you wanted to do it after they said Not to?

So, in this case, what's the red button?

The red button is accepting the box. It's not flushing it down the toilet and being yourself. It's doing the opposite.

O.k. So, now think. The last time you went out on a date, started a new job, or met some new people. What did you do?

I bet lots of you said to yourselves. "O.k., me. Just be yourself, and you'll be fine."

You just told yourself not to push the red button!!

And I'll bet you failed.
I bet you pushed it.
I bet you were as far from being yourself as is humanly possible.

Moral of the story?

Don't say it. Don't think about it. Don't even consider it.

As a matter of fact - do something else.

Take a bath. Meditate. Pray. Listen to your favorite cheesy band on the way. Do things that make the red button story seem like a silly little anecdote that you never intended to remember, or read again.

People are weird. I, myself, enjoy being one of the weirder ones. Go have fun doing the same.