relfections

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In the Scheme of Things …

Small talk with little substance…”bears no fruit” with casual acquaintances, groups or strangers.

small-talk

There was a study that someone conducted in regard to the attention span of the average listener.  It concluded after 25 seconds if the listeners had no interest in what you were saying… they tuned you out and were no longer listening.  (I am sure that I have made a lot of 25 second speeches without knowing it).  We sometimes initiate questions that promote longer answers (unintentionally) than we are prepared to listen to. For example: “How was your golf game today”? “Well on the first hole I knocked one out of bounds and three putted…then on the second hole”….and so on….get the point. The question that deserves a 25 second or less response… “What score did you shoot today”?

We all ask questions or make statements that are not meant to initiate a conversation…but as a means of politeness or awareness of one’s presence. Such as “How are you today?”… “Have a good day”… “Good golf shot”…etc…all of these can be responded to in no more than one or two words….and should be.

If you are trying to start a conversation that has value beyond 25 seconds…then ask a question to someone who has a source of knowledge to the question you are asking….and then be prepared to listen to the answer. Conversation should be an exchange of ideas or at least a learning experience.  Remember when you are talking “you are only learning what you already know”…and if your dialog extends beyond 25 seconds it should have interest to the other party.

There are some basic rules that we should all engage in such as:

…never ask a question that you know will embarrass or make the other person feel inadequate.

…questions concerning religion and politics are not good topics…if you know the other person’s views are different from your.

…having an opinion and elaborating on something that you know nothing about is more dangerous than not having an opinion at all. This one is a confirmation to the statement “I thought he was smart until he open his mouth and removed all doubt”.

…people usually would prefer talking about themselves or their own experiences with you listening …rather than listening to you talk about yourself.

Now I have just stated what I believe to be the proper protocol for starting an intelligent conversation with a casual acquaintance, group, or a stranger in the proper setting.

With that said… if you should run into an “old friend” that you haven’t seen in some time… in an informal setting such as on the golf course or like…none of the above applies…the proper greeting would be to extend you hand for a hand shake, smile and verbalize… “Damn you are as ugly as I remember”…It’s a guy thing…we wear it like a badge of honor….and it took less than 25 seconds.  Disclaimer: I would not necessarily recommend this greeting to the more intelligent gender…women.

 

 DISCLAIMER: The information presented is either my opinion or information obtained from sources believed to be reliable and factual; however, I make no representation as to the completeness or accuracy thereof. Any errors, including misuse or misspelling of words is either due to my fingers hitting the wrong keys, oversight, or my own ignorance

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“Fork in the Road”… “People, Places and Events”

Age constitute a series of chapters filed with people, places and events in one’s life with the passing of time.

As one gets older there is a tendency to bring into focus the “memories” of those events. For a moment separate the memories of those events from a specific decision that you made (or someone made for you) that led you to where you are today….that decision probably created the majority of those memories good or bad.

With that said…I thought that I would back track and try to identify the major “fork in the road” that has led me to the present.

fork-in-the-road

I now live in the Dallas-Ft. Worth Metro-Plex area of Texas…and have for the majority of my life (at my age it is safe to say the majority).  After college I was given a job opportunity that provided me a choice to move to one of several different cities in Texas…San Antonio, Houston and Ft. Worth.  I chose Ft. Worth because I had a brother that lived there at the time. Even though my brother and I had no direct conversation that influenced me to move to the area…the fact is “just because he lived there”…I made a quick decision at that time that has since fill the majority of my life…(he moved out of State less than a year of me moving here).

I could have just as easily chosen Austin, San Antonio, or Houston….but I didn’t. That one decision led me to all the people and events that have filled my life since.  Any other decision that I would have made at that time would have led me to a life filled with different people and events. To me its mind boggling to think for example…if I had moved to Austin at that time in my life…Where would I be today?  That one choice…that one turn in the road…has filled the majority of my life and has influenced who I am today.

Take a moment and reflect on a decision that you made…or didn’t make…that brought you to where you are today.  I not talking about the events that may have influenced the changes in your life…but the one major decision that you made that led you to the surroundings of where you are today.

Someone once said, life is what happens as you are making plans…our every day life becomes a bumper car ride with people and events being the rails that keep us on that continuing path.

If you under 30 years of age…there is a possibility that you haven’t encountered that major “fork in the road”…only detours…and only time will tell.

If you have reached an age where there is more time behind you than in front of you…then I  challenge you to isolate the ‘fork in the road” …and then wonder…what if? 

 

 DISCLAIMER: The information presented is either my opinion or information obtained from sources believed to be reliable and factual; however, I make no representation as to the completeness or accuracy thereof. Any errors, including misuse or misspelling of words is either due to my fingers hitting the wrong keys, oversight, or my own ignorance

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A Different World

waterhose
I wrote a previous post called “when understanding…was simple” it was a reflection of my youth, the values and choices that I made and how I was influenced by the environment in which I grew up. Those years were spent in the late fifties and sixties.

I, like most of us, often refer to those as “simpler times”. I sometimes ask myself … “were they really simpler times or just less complicated because of my lack of awareness or adolescence”?  I really didn’t know the answer to that question.

I was recently searching the internet looking to add more songs and videos to my collection of favorites….when I ran across a video called “A Different World”…that was recorded a few years ago. The song was written by Mark Nesler, Jennifer Hanson and Tony Martin….and preformed by Bucky Covington.    If you are over 50 years of age I would recommend that you read the words or watch the video and listen.   I am not sure if those times were better …just that they were different.

We were born to mothers who smoked and drank 
Our cribs were covered in lead-based paint
No childproof lids
No seatbelts in cars
Rode bikes with no helmets
And still here we are
Still here we are

We got daddy’s belt when we misbehaved
Had three TV channels you got up to change
No video games and no satellite
All we had were friends and they were outside
Playing outside

It was a different life
When we were boys and girls
Not just a different time
It was a different world

School always started the same everyday
The pledge of allegiance, then someone would pray
Not every kid made the team when they tried
We got disappointed but that was alright
We turned out alright

It was a different life
When we were boys and girls
Not just a different time
It was a different world

No bottled water
We’d drink from a garden hose
And every Sunday,
All the stores were closed.

It was a different life
When we were boys and girls

Not just a different time
It was a different world

Johnny J. 

 DISCLAIMER: The information presented is either my opinion or information obtained from sources believed to be reliable and factual; however, I make no representation as to the completeness or accuracy thereof. Any errors, including misuse or misspelling of words is either due to my fingers hitting the wrong keys, oversight, or my own ignorance.