Let’s Talk
Lately I've been thinking about what makes us talk, and what makes us express. Who we are, who knows this? Do we know this or does someone we know knows this? How many times have we in the past asked ourselves this - What makes me talk? Why do I talk? Why do I need to talk?
Talk, the word here represents a universe encompassed within us. Talking is an act which our society still sees in a very one-dimensional way. This person talks too much - extrovert. This person barely talks - Introvert. Talking is an act. A holy act of expressing what is inside you. We talk a lot during our day. From buying a coffee in the morning to buying a cigarette and in cabs and in lunches and in bars asking for a drink. We all talk. This talk though, the talk which comes out as a necessity rather than a need is what we must discard here if we are to understand the real meaning of what talking is. To express yourself at your free will to someone is to talk. To satisfy the need and hunger to spill out what is going in your head and heart is to talk. Fighting over grocery bills with your spouse is not talk. Why you should not fight over grocery bills is to talk with your spouse.
A generation full of constant chat-boxes is missing out on talks. We all talk, and probably are talking more than the generations before us were allowed to talk. Yet are we really talking? When was the last time we really wanted to talk, even if it meant to vent our heart out? This act of choosing someone and chasing someone to simply tell our tales is holy. What is stopping me or you from talking? When did you last had an honest conversation with a stranger? Are strangers worth trusting with emotions of your heart? Maybe yes, because you may never meet that stranger again. How is that stranger going to impact your life if that is inside you in that moment is known by the stranger. We are fearful, we are afraid, and we have a million reasons to not talking. Yet this is only the one aspect of the puzzle.
What to talk is the other aspect that interests me. We all fail to realize that we have an inner desire to express ourselves without actually expressing ourselves. It's a contradiction but a contradiction that is worth exploring and exploiting if we are to find a true and meaningful companion for conversations. What comfort can the conversation companion bring to us if we are to be vulnerable. Maybe none, yet that vulnerability is worth the risk. Into the inferno, that our heart is, there lies a bud waiting to blow up. With every progress we make each day in our experiences we become more reserved in allowing people to step in. Maybe we ourselves don't know and are yet to step inside ourselves. When was the last time you talked with yourself? This sounds crazy but it is a perfectly well process to undergo. When we can't talk with ourselves how do we expect to talk to others about ourselves and the way we experience the world. It is not crazy to talk to yourself. There is a deep learning instilled in that process. You will not what you like to hear, what topics excite you, which way to drive the conversation. We all must have heard of have seen this image of a chess player playing chess with himself. It is a direct allegory for us to start learning about the ways of conversation. We are quick to say, 'that person can't talk!' But can you talk to yourself?
There are very strange yet direct connotations of talking with love. Usually people when newly in love, are inseparable and talk a lot. It is a phenomenon that is so common that now it is widely accepted as a norm. Why is that? Why so? As its direct implication is that once people get used to, they don't talk that often and lack of conversational topics play a somewhat debatable yet crucial role is making people fall out of love. having spent countless sleepless nights and mornings to our loved ones when in love, we do experience something. We all deep down wish to sustain it forever yet know that it never will. Why it doesn't sustain? If we can't talk to ourselves on a regular and daily basis, we can never talk to someone else. Is that too far a conclusion to comprehend?
We all want to have meaningful talks but never pause to ask ourselves what does a meaningful talk comprise of? Does it even comprise of anything at all? What is meaningful to us may not be as meaningful to the other. And we never find people to have meaningful conversations. When an ideology creeps into millions and each one of those millions feels that is is their own individual ideology, it is a suggestion that the ideology is flawed. As each individual fails to question the ideology on the pretense that it is their unique ideology and thus can't be flawed. What is born out of uniqueness can never be flawed - thinks the individual. Million individuals think the same. We all want meaningful conversations. Sure, what is meaningful to you. I asked, 'What is meaningful to you?' after a woman told me during our first meeting that she craves meaningful conversations. She replied, 'You are weird.'
