A LONG TALK WITH MYSELF

If you are like me, there are times when you come to the conclusion that what you need to do is put everything else aside, find a quiet corner off someplace where you will not be disturbed and have a long talk with yourself. We go from one day to the next doing what we normally do without ever giving any real attention to what we are doing or why. We’re just doing what we usually do.

That is not to say that there is something wrong or even awry with what we are doing or even our life itself. We simply get so wound up in our daily existence that we take for granted that what we are doing is fine and dandy and even our very personal being as well. There are no big issues that consume our waking moments. Life is what it is. We’re comfortable with it. No need to worry.

But then there comes that nagging feeling that we need to take stock with ourselves, our life, our being. So we make the time and find the place and start to have a serious conversation with ourself about our life. We start off in deep thought and self-reflection but then find ourself drifting off into La La Land somewhere else and not really listening to what we had to say to ourself.

The problem, I think, is not that we truly do not want to have a serious conversation with ourself. We do want that. Our problem is that we don’t seem to have the ability any more to concentrate on any conversation, ours of anyone else’s, that takes longer than seven minutes. We need a commercial break even with ourself and we take it. We will get back to that serious conversation, we tell ourself, and leave the room.

The art of conversation, real conversation, seems to be lost. We don’t even talk anymore. We text and tweet thinking that that is real conversation when it is only on the surface. If I have the phone in my hand to text someone, why don’t I just call that person and communicate voice to voice? Texting is so much easier, I know, especially if we know that the person we want to have a conversation with has the proclivity to make a short conversation into a half-hour experience, which, of course, may not be all that bad.

Maybe there is a solution to not being able to have those conversations with ourself. Maybe we should text ourself and ask a question about our life and how it is going and then have to reply to that question. The issue will at least be staring us in the face and hopefully force us to think about what we want to say before we respond. Maybe we won’t get that deep into the conversation and maybe we won’t stay with it for very long – seven minutes – but we can keep the conversation going by not deleting the text.

I don’t know. Just some thoughts. What I do know is that we all need to have some serious and honest conversations with ourselves about who we are, what we believe and why, what we do and why. If you don’t believe me, just watch the news.