Do you find your mind wandering when you're having a conversation with someone? I don't really pay complete attention to others when we're talking. I'm thinking about how I'll respond, or some problem I'm having, or a TV show I recently saw. Morrie (Tuesdays with Morrie) says that the problem with most relationships is that people don't listen to each other. We need to give the other our complete attention. People notice that we're really not paying attention. This happens a lot in marriages, but we mostly aren't paying attention when people talk to us. This causes the other to feel unimportant. I'm going to make it my business to pay attention in the future. I've been trying this lately and it's really hard. My mind seems to race all the time and I find it really difficult to give someone my full attention.
Morrie also says that we shouldn't be afraid to express our emotions. He says we should embrace them (both negative and positive). If we embrace the negative emotion we begin to recognize it as a negative emotion. Then we can deal with it and be done with it. If we avoid the negative emotion it never becomes resolved. We're stuck (Morrie was a smart guy). If we don't deal with negative emotions like fear and anger and anxiety we continue to be stuck in these emotions.
So my tasks for this week are to listen and to embrace my emotions. Sounds like I've got a busy week ahead.
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