Weekly Insights: Keep It Light...

You hear people talk a lot about not wanting to waste time, and how "time is of essence", yet so many people spend their time engaging in fights and arguments that are going nowhere. Have you ever engaged in an argument, even though you knew going into it that you were never going to find resolution? This happens every day on social media, and more than often in families, social communities, and friend groups. It is a trap that many people fall into because of the need to be right. We think by explaining "our side" it will be obvious to understand and everyone will be on the same page. Wrong... Listening more and talking less can help to shift the perspective and bring deeper understanding because we don't always hear what is really being said. Fighting for your view oftentimes comes out of defensiveness, comes with anger, and is not received as intended. Doors end up closing instead of opening, and the original intention of clarity is completely missed. Sometimes the person with the best intentions ends up looking like a monster by fighting a battle that will never have an ending.

Have you ever looked back at an argument that changed everything and wondered, "How did this even get started?". The perspective when the heat is turned off is that we should have never engaged in the fight to begin with. How many times have you gone into a conversation with the best intentions, only to end up in a huge fight, ending the friendship, or never talking to the person ever again? Was it really worth it? We see it on a political scale dividing our country more and more each day, so, how do we know when the battle is really worth fighting?