Pause away

Today, us dental students were given a talk on the topic of communication by an external speaker

The key idea for the seminar was to "pause and relax"
She said that the occasional pauses allow us to think about what we are about to say
and at the same time, consider what others were saying. This trains us to be mindful, to be patient and good listeners

We started off the exercise by meditating for several minutes
The speaker guided our thoughts using the sound of a bell and her descriptive instructions which overall, was pretty much like being hypnotised
Once my body was relaxed, two immediate effects were apparent.
I felt sleepy and I also felt like farting

We then continued to the next activity which was kinda like speed dating
We engaged in a conversation with another fren whom we don't know very well...
of course, since this was about "pause and relax"
there were breaks in between, marked by the bell sound

some findings:
- in our needs to fill the silence, we tend to talk a lot of junks and unnecessary stuffs out of habits
- we are all eager to get into a conversation, to have control of the conversation, to impress and to project ourselves in a certain way
- i'm normally quiet but when Im saying something, I usually have a lot to say
- its frustrating when i dun get to say all i want to say. this blog is a good example. whats left in my head goes in the bin.
- conversation provokes thoughts which allow the conversation to continue. unfortuanately the thoughts provoked were usually about ourselves rather than interests in others. we then go on to talk about ourselves rather than asking or elaborating what the other person just said.
- when I paused, my brain also paused. there were no thoughts nor considerations whatsoever. Just pure blankness and awkwardness. when we pause, its often interpreted as a signal for others to say something even though they dun hav anything to say.
- therefore i think slowing down works better than pausing.

Towards the end of the session, my fren asked a question which made me realise
When the speaker herself was giving the talk earlier on in the session, she actually paused quite frequently

...No wonder I felt asleep

PS. "Be mindful of your thoughts..." - Obi-Wan Kenobi (Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the clones, LucasFilm Ltd 2002)