CarolLines: Cold Showers

“Mommy, mommy, this water is cold,” whined the child in the shower at the YMCA.

“It’s not cold,” said the mommy. “It’s warm.”

What message was being sent — and received?

Experiences are not the same as events. Just as one man’s ceiling is another man’s floor, the same situation can be experienced by two different people in very different ways. Could it be that the mommy and child were both right?

As adults, we’re told to trust our gut.  Yet we also keep hearing: “That isn’t what happened. I didn’t say that. That’s a terrible idea. You’re wrong.”  Throwing cold water on different perspectives can have a chilling long-term effect.

The next time you’re engaged in a disagreement, get curious instead of doctrinaire. Ask questions and seek to understand how others experience the world. You just might warm up to some new ideas.