Old-Fashioned Common Sense

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200 words, advanced, common sense, communicate, complicated, conversation, demographics, Diana Schwenk, Diana's Enormous Book of Quotes, just ask, surveys

“Nonsense is good only because common sense is so limited. ” ~ George Santayana

Is it just me, or have we become so advanced  that everything has become more complicated? Who was it that decided unless you are an expert in a certain field you can’t have an opinion?

Remember when if you wanted to know how something was affecting people, you just asked?

Remember listening to your gut and gauging what you would say next based on a person’s body language and responses?

When did having a simple conversation become so scary?

When did we decide the best way to figure something out is to ask everyone (except those in question)  through polls or surveys what they think?

If I want to know what your favourite meal is I won’t hire a Chef  to conduct a survey  of folks in your age group  and income level  who live in your neighbourhood to find out what they like and then serve it up to you.

I will just ask you.

Don’t get me wrong, I think surveys are fun. Studies produce helpful results.

But please let’s not forsake face to face asking.

~ HUMP DAY CHRONICLES ~

What do you think?

I CEE DEMS – Brown the Runway

Tags

200 words, Act, clarity, communicate, Diana Schwenk, Diana's Enormous Book of Quotes, Foreign language, leadership, message, motivate, passion, perception, words

If a leader can’t get a message across clearly and motivate others to act on it, then having a message doesn’t even matter. ~ Gilbert Amelio

I wiped the sweat away from my forehead with the back of my hand and pointed to the ocean.

He raised his eyebrows questioningly.

Caliente. Mucho.

Que?

Have you ever tried to get a point across in a foreign language?

What if I told you that it can be just as difficult when both parties speak the same language.

A few years back a colleague was becoming increasingly agitated that some staff still didn’t know the direction and vision of our organization.

“We have to tell them,” I offered.

“We have told them. We sent that email…brought it up at the all-staff meeting, they’re just not listening!”

Words are a tricky thing. Even one word alone can mean a host of things to a host of people. If people are percieving the message in a way we did not intend, is that really their fault?

Perception is reality

If people aren’t hearing what you’re saying – maybe it’s time to change the way you’re saying it.

~ DIANA’S ENORMOUS BOOK OF QUOTES ~

And now for something totally different

Tags

blogging, communicate, community, Diana Schwenk, Freshly Pressed, larger audience, Reader's Choice, Slapppshot, SuperStar Blogger, WordPress

Every now and then I head on over to the Freshly Pressed tab.

Heck, that’s where I found and followed some of you!

I love how surprised most of you were – and each of you deserved that limelight as far as I am concerned!

Some of us who have never been freshly pressed hang on to the hope that one day it could happen to us. I once dreamt that I had been freshly pressed and was totally overwhelmed with all the comments flooding my inbox!

~

If you’ve been following my blog, you already know that I feature someone’s blog every week on My Friday Pick. Recently when I did so, the featured blogger told me that he felt as though he’d been freshly pressed. I flippantly responded with something like ‘hardly’ and he immediately shot back with, “…it means more coming from someone who knows me…”

Well hang on to your hats kids!

There’s something new in the blogosphere and it’s a way for you to showcase your own work.

A way for you to share with a larger audience the work you are most proud of while sharing the post of another that you’ve thoroughly enjoyed.

Let me explain…

Several months ago, Slapppshot invited all his followers to post, not necessarily their most read post, but their personal favourite post. Check it out here!

I thought this was a most wonderful idea and very generous of him to do so. I pasted a link to a post  where I had written about the true definition of wealth in his comment section.

Well wouldn’t you know it. Reader’s Choice came along and spotted the post on Slapppshot’s blog with all its submissions and thought it was a great idea.

Welcome to Reader’s Choice, a WordPress site spreading the message of community by offering its readers to share their best work.

They invited Slapppshot to write their inaugural post and this sweet Swedish man highlighted the post I had shared on his blog all those months before!

Now Reader’s Choice is inviting all of you to submit your favourite post.

Maybe you wrote a post that didn’t quite get all the attention you think it deserved. Or you are new to WordPress and could use some more company. Or you’re itching to enlarge your on-line community.

Reader’s Choice is a wonderful blog built on an idea that Slapppshot had way back when…

You can read their guideline here!

So what are you waiting for???

Check out Reader’s Choice here and start to follow them immediately!

Oh, before I conclude this post, because Slapppshot blessed me out of my socks with this lovely gesture, I’m gonna put in another plug for him (I say another, because he was my Friday Pick 8 once upon a time).

Go ahead. He’s an awesome guy. He’s funny as all hell and he has a heart of gold.

Check out my friend Slapppshot and if you like what you see, follow him.

I did!

~ THE HUMP DAY CHRONICLES ~

I’m looking forward to reading your favourite post on Reader’s Choice!

One mouth and two ears

Tags

communicate, compassion, forgive, friends, Kamloops, kindness, Kitchener Ontario, listen, Montreal, one mouth and two ears, Relationships, speak, supportive

God gave us one mouth and two ears, we should use them in proportion to each other…

I’m a communicator

I love engaging in conversation

I love the back and forth flow of words

I strive to understand

I strive to be understood

On my good days I’m curious and open-minded.

~

On my not-so-good days I’m stubborn and it’s more important to broadcast my views.

The year was 1987.

Looking out the window

I was on a Greyhound bus with my best friend.

We were heading back east because her dad had passed away.

It was a 3 1/2 day drive.

That’s a long time but we managed to stay civil all the way there.

I don’t know if you’ve ever taken a bus across Canada without stopping anywhere to get a good night’s sleep and shower…

By the time we got to Kitchener, Ontario the bus was ripe with body odor.

We spent a few days there so my friend could be with her family and then continued on to Montreal, Quebec to visit with my folks.

When it was time to go back to Kamloops, British Columbia we’d become a little … well…sick of each other.

The 3 1/2 day bus ride back dragged on and felt like forever. We began to snap at each other over really stupid things.

Finally we didn’t want to sit together.

When we got back to our respective homes, we didn’t even want to speak to each other. This went on for 2 – 3 weeks.

During this time I gave some thought to our cross-country trip. How had it become such a disaster?

I mean seriously, the reason I went in the first place was to support my friend during a difficult time.

Why had I been such jerk?

I should have understood.

I should have shown a little grace.

I should have been more supportive.

I don’t remember who finally called who but we started talking again and I’m glad we did. We forgave each other and went on being friends even to this day some 20+ years later.

Today we joke about our ‘Bus Ride from Hell.’

A bus ride that taught me when I stop listening…

when I insist on broadcasting my opinion…

dialogue turns into monologue and relationships fall apart.

~

It’s a lesson I still have to remind myself of.

Sometimes I forget and am quicker to speak and slower to hear.

Today my best friend and I like to share a coffee at our favourite park

I’m not always true to who I am.

But as someone wise recently told me …

we all have our off days, so when you mess up just forgive yourself and try again.

So when I slip

I forgive myself

try again

re-engage in the conversation

and become quick to listen and slow to speak.

God gave me two ears and one mouth – I need to use them in proportion to each other.

Do you struggle with using your ears and mouth in proportion to each other?