{"id":646,"date":"2016-04-29T07:00:52","date_gmt":"2016-04-29T11:00:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.hdhstory.net\/Storyblog\/?p=646"},"modified":"2016-04-26T17:53:27","modified_gmt":"2016-04-26T21:53:27","slug":"y-youve-lost-me","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hdhstory.net\/Storyblog\/?p=646","title":{"rendered":"Y: You&#8217;ve lost me."},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><b>Could you repeat that?<\/b><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/hdhstory.net\/Storyblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/Y.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter  wp-image-489\" src=\"http:\/\/hdhstory.net\/Storyblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/Y.jpg\" alt=\"Y\" width=\"127\" height=\"127\" srcset=\"http:\/\/hdhstory.net\/Storyblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/Y.jpg 200w, http:\/\/hdhstory.net\/Storyblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/Y-150x150.jpg 150w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 127px) 100vw, 127px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I have a very active mind. This probably explains the highly detailed dreams I have. If I could write down the scripts for all of the dreams I have, I would have a fascinating TV show. My mysteries, science fiction, reality teaching scenarios are \u00a0book\u00a0worthy. The problem is that rarely do my dreams reach a conclusion, there are few sequels and rarely do I remember anything I\u2019ve dreamt about within an hour of waking up. I should note that my dreams do not always happen when I\u2019m sleeping. My mind likes to wander even when I\u2019m awake. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I will be in a conversation with someone and as the conversation progresses I will be playing out my actions for the next day, or I might be creating a whole new story based on some word or event that was mentioned during the conversation. You\u2019ll get that a lot if you happen to mention a phrase that reminds me of a song lyric. I\u2019ll start singing out the song either out loud or in my head. Either way, you\u2019ve lost me.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/hdhstory.net\/Storyblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/listening-presentation.jpeg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-648\" src=\"http:\/\/hdhstory.net\/Storyblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/listening-presentation.jpeg\" alt=\"listening presentation\" width=\"188\" height=\"154\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">My recourse is two-fold. I can either stop the conversation and admit that I didn\u2019t hear what you were saying, infer it by just asking you, \u201cCould you repeat that?\u201d or let the conversation continue and pretend to know what we\u2019re actually talking about. If the conversation isn\u2019t that important I can usually get away with it since the topic may not show up again. I have, however, been caught at not being in the moment, when whoever I\u2019m talking to remarks, \u201cDon\u2019t you remember when we talked?\u201d or \u201cAre you listening?\u201d and I have to come up with some detail of the conversation to show that I was listening.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I get caught more times than not when something happens nearby, I glance at it and the person I\u2019m talking to catches me and confronts me with not listening. This is a problem even if I am listening well and my eyes lose contact with that person I\u2019m conversing with. No matter what I say, I clearly showed that what was being said was not important. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It does work both ways. I can usually tell when what I\u2019m saying is not being listened to. If the other person is involved in something else while I\u2019m talking like reading an article, watching TV, or preparing a meal, I know there is a low probability that what I\u2019ve said was internalized. Saying, \u201cBut I told you that already\u201d doesn\u2019t work. It only infuriates the person who thinks I\u2019m making it up.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/hdhstory.net\/Storyblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/listening-island.jpeg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-647\" src=\"http:\/\/hdhstory.net\/Storyblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/listening-island.jpeg\" alt=\"listening island\" width=\"271\" height=\"186\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If I realize that my mind is wandering, I try to focus on not getting lost in thought. Even so, the act of thinking about getting back in focus\u00a0takes me out of focus. But I keep trying. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">So all of you reading this blog entry, keep in mind that this is my reality. I\u2019m working on becoming a better listener. And by the way, someone else might be trying to communicate with you at the same time you\u2019re reading this. Try to be aware of things that are happening around you and keep your focus on the conversations you are in. Only then can you become&#8230;I\u2019m sorry did you just say something?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/hdhstory.net\/Storyblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/Listening-fish-bowl.jpeg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-649\" src=\"http:\/\/hdhstory.net\/Storyblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/Listening-fish-bowl.jpeg\" alt=\"Listening fish bowl\" width=\"234\" height=\"215\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Could you repeat that? I have a very active mind. This probably explains the highly detailed dreams I have. If I could write down the scripts for all of the dreams I have, I would have a fascinating TV show. &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hdhstory.net\/Storyblog\/?p=646\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[68,9,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-646","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-a-to-z-blog-challenge-2016","category-personal-stories","category-story-writing"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hdhstory.net\/Storyblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/646","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hdhstory.net\/Storyblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hdhstory.net\/Storyblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hdhstory.net\/Storyblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hdhstory.net\/Storyblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=646"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.hdhstory.net\/Storyblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/646\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":650,"href":"https:\/\/www.hdhstory.net\/Storyblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/646\/revisions\/650"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hdhstory.net\/Storyblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=646"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hdhstory.net\/Storyblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=646"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hdhstory.net\/Storyblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=646"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}