I Have a Lot to Learn--Age Doesn't Equal Smart

There isn’t a minute of our waking or sleeping we don’t communicate.  Images, directions, memories, texting, phone calls, e-mails, talking or thinking.   

It might be a text, “Where are you?”

An email titled “Last Chance To…”

Or the sound of an automated-voice-message on the phone, “This is Doctor So and So’s office, reminding you….”  

We all have instant language responses set off by communication triggers. The sound of an incoming text seems to have the ability to demand communication from us. "Crap!  Now what?"

A knock on the door, "Who is that?"  

A honk of a horn, "WHAT?!!"
A whisper between two people you know, "What don't they want me to know, geez?"

The minute you walk in the door from work, “Mom, can I…?” your teenager starts with a question.

Or as you’re putting your head on the pillow, at night, your spouse asks, “Can we talk about…?”

It’s rare to watch or hear a current news event being covered, without a demand on our brains for understanding, a nay or yea or plain disgust from us.

This is for the benefit of those who love to see a diagram!

How many times have I jumped the gun on thinking?  How many times has my mind misinterpreted non-verbal shrugs of the shoulder, rolling of the eyes or clicking of the tongue?  

How many times did I mentally place a wager, sure I knew what someone was going to say? 

A clip from the movie, "You've Got Mail", from Warner Bros.    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gdIzQls4_50

Judged the contents of an email before I even opened it up?

How  many times have I auto-closed my mind ,  thinking, "This person is going to ask me for something, I know it!"

How many times have I let communication-overload shut down my rational thinking?  Instances when I spoke too soon, calculated too quickly and judged automatically?

My New Little Book

I found a little book at a resale shop, yesterday.  I laughed when I read the title, How to Make Friends With Money, by Jerrold Mundis. 

I immediately thought, “What a great satire about money!”

I imagined chapters on “How to Impress Someone With a Gift” or “Inticing a Potential Friend by Flashing Green in Your Wallet”.

When I sat down later in the day, to read the book, I had another laugh!  I realized the meaning of the book’s title wasn’t at all what I thought.  It was written as a self-help book to show how to stop fearing, misunderstanding and avoiding money issues. To learn how to make money a friend, not an enemy.

I may be older but I have a lot to learn.  I have work to do.  I want to learn to stop the instant thinking.  Stop the "I know" instagram in my brain.  Step back, and give the thousand kinds of communication time to register.  A lot of energy is wasted and I can do this!  I can get rid of some of the unnecessary communication clogging up my brainwaves.

I unsubscribed to a few "unnecessary" communications after finishing this post.  I love to get updates from Elderly Instruments in Lansing, The Museum of Modern Art, The School of Music and Theatre (at U.of M.), Cross Cultural Solutions and Masterpiece.  But, the love is lost when I continually have e-mails from them.  I know how to find their sites, I can search when I want the information.

I don't have a television.  That's a big disconnect from constant snowballs in my face.  

So will I learn?  I don't know.  It's hard to step back and process before I react and make a mental decision about communication.  The first thing I can do is think about the other side of the communication wire.  Am I throwing out unnecessary communication?  Confusing texts?  Messages I assume the recipient should understand?  Probably.  I have work to do. (No... not dishes, shoveling or making my bed)