Good morning! I have a small cup of black coffee today, and it tastes good. It is a nice sunny start to the day! A layer of snow on the lawn. I am wondering if some of the Christmas gifts come today. That will be good! I am watching for the mail because we have had a rash of people taking mail from mailboxes here in Southern Maine. A neighbor did catch up with them apparently, the cops came and nothing was found. Where the mail went? Between when they took it out of the box and the cop come? Rick followed them and got them to stop or the cops caught up, not clear on this part of the story. He followed them is what I know. This has happened in different counties. And therefore has been on the news.
I have on some lovely tinkly piano music this morning. Mixed with saxophone/Jazz, a favorite. Something new to me, and it’s really nice!
Now! I opened Joyce Hifler’s To Everything, There Is A Season and found the following: “We learn so many good things from great souls, not always by what they talk about, but by their silence. There is often a more meaningful communication of understanding and trustworthiness in silence than in conversation.” This peaks my pondering. May it be yours! So, what’s she getting at? “There would be much less clamor if we could just stop talking soon enough. The plight of the human being is that he (or she) creates a mountain of disturbances and then tries to climb over it.” I can see this. “We seem to think nothing is working well for us unless we can see it, and to make up for what we cannot see, we talk about it until we create problems where no existed. When time is spent talking there is no time for listening, and without new ideas, talk is very cheap.” I see____ Yes, I do see. I agree, when we talk, we can not listen to what others say. Nor can we pause to think about how to say something different. I have been in such conversations, and it’s impossible feeling to get a word in edgewise. It seems somehow that the person is just connecting one thought after another, for the sake of talking. When I recognize myself as talking too much I clamp my lips and find myself saying, “I’m sorry, I want to hear your thoughts. This is the best we can do is give recognition to when we do it I feel. Just stop. I know I will get excited by something or just having a good conversation! Especially with covid, we do not get out as we were. There is the art of conversation, taking turns and it should be kept in mind.
“Robert Louis Stevenson said, “You start a question and it’s like starting a stone from on top a hill; away the stone goes, starting others.” And so it is with talking, the first idle remark may foster others until the words all run downhill and cease to have meaning. Getting back to the silence that is golden it to start back up the hill.” Hmmmmm______. Well, it seems when you want to get back to it, after a nice conversation it is most satisfying to sit back and think! That was nice, or that was fun, or I love talking with that person. Hopefully, the free-for-all is with a lovely friend. And in the mix turn-taking has eventually happened! I have seen this, and it seems mutual. I have been a part of it, and it has felt mutual. I love the humorous times with a friend who is funny! And lots of love and laughter is in the mix. These times feel like an exception. And of course, they are not what Hifler is getting at.
Anisette Studios & Shibui Fine Arts 