Listen

My phone has been on the fritz for the last few weeks. It had an unfortunate and intimate encounter with orange juice and has never been the same. Sometimes it works, sometimes not.

Worst of all, I can't send text messages. Well, I can, but my space bar doesn't work, soIhavetowritethemlikethis. Also, I cannot backspace, so I only have one shot to get it right. Usually I resort to one word answers and for the most part that works, but it is hard for me not to be able to really say what I want to. Try to come up with a witty comeback in one word. Drunk. Ha. Uh-uh. Whatever. In short, I am running out of options. I would just pick up the phone and call, but sometimes that doesn't work either. So I am communication challenged.

I think this whole thing is a timely lesson for me. You see, I have a tendency to talk and not listen, often saying so much that my message is lost. I am trying to be a better listener, but I feel like my brain is always on full speed and my mouth is along for the ride. To be a good listener you have to quiet the inner dialog and that is extremely hard for me to do. This is true for my writing too. I am really working on trying to convey something without feeling the need to explain every detail.

Once things settle down, I will pick up a new phone. It will probably be next week by the time I can get to it and I am hoping by then that I will be making some progress towards being a better listener. Otherwise, I might have to consider one of those silent weekend monastery retreats and I am pretty sure they don't serve cocktails.