“I don’t just listen to your words.
I watch your face. I stare into your eyes. I check out your body language. I peep your tone. I make note of your use of words. I hear what you don’t say. I interpret your silences.
Most importantly…I trust my intuition. ”
I was looking through my Pinterest for an article last night and ran across this quote again and due to some current things running through my head it just seemed to fit so I simply shared it and went on to find the article I had been searching for.
This morning while looking through for something to inspire my Monday and I read this quote yet again, although this time it struck me a little different than it had before. This time it made me think if that outlook is truly the best practice.
I have always been able to see through people’s bullshit and see the truth. I can typically read people and understand why they say a certain thing or act a certain way. So originally when reading this I thought, ‘This is exactly true’ I would say that regardless of the what words someone speaks, sometimes if you pay attention to their facial expression, the amount of eye contact, the tone in their voice, the depth behind the words you can really hear what someone is NOT saying through observing all of the other things.
After reading this quote the last time I can’t help but think, Is this just what we tell ourselves so we can believe what we want to believe? Do we think our ‘intuition’ is correct based upon reading between the lines and looking further than someone’s words? Is it really our intuition being completely on the ball? Or is it just a load of crap we feed ourselves to hear what we want to and make us feel better?
The truth is, you may be right about someone. Someone might be thinking in their head something completely different than what they are saying. People hide behind their words or their silences for that matter, all of the time but who are we to make excuses for those people? Why should we look past what they are putting out there in order to see what we believe to be their true feelings? If someone cannot or will not be straight forward with you, for whatever reason, then maybe you don’t need that person in your world in the first place.
Honestly, why put forth so much effort to look deeply into someone’s words and make excuses for what they are not saying? Why waste your time? It seems to me that we do this simply to appease ourselves more than anything. Well I’m done doing that. No more of that nonsense.
Actions Speak Louder Than Words. End. Of. Story.
© 2015 Jamie Thurber. @jmeirene. All Rights Reserved