During the day I’ll have a variety of conversations. All of them are different. I’ve never experienced a conversation that was like another.
The number of people in the room, the people themselves, everyone’s situation as well as the context all impact the conversation. Naturally one could assume that the content of the conversation is the element that differentiates one conversation from the other.
But that’s not my experience.
The words may vary, the exchanges too, but there are a lot of conversations where the content is quite similar and seems to be a repetition of previous conversations.
What is different to me, is how the way I’m stimulated and energized impacts how I feel.
Stimulation and energy go hand in hand. Depending on the energy in the room, I’ll be more or less stimulated. And yet, it is the ability to stimulate and be stimulated that will release the available energy.
One may link the ability of emotions and thoughts to flow freely and unrestrictedly or not during a conversation to the air pressure measured by a barometer.
With low air pressure, there is nothing that restricts the surface air from rising and forming clouds. High air pressure, or dense air pushes away any air that’s closer to the surface, including moisture-laden clouds. Which is how it typically brings about clear skies.
Low air density can indicate the presence of moisture in the air which, in our metaphor, attracts and connects thoughts and emotions within a cloud, making it difficult for them to flow.
Building on this metaphor the presence of many more air molecules in dense air and thus few other types of molecules symbolizes a state in which emotions and thoughts can flow freely and unrestrictedly. It does not mean that everything will be said, or that there are no conventions. There actually is a clear but implicit restriction that all in the room share, it is their willingness to listen without judgment and with the possibility that what is being shared has value.
To me, in conversations in which the air is clear, all types of challenging topics can be addressed, and yet these conversations will leave me intellectually stimulated and emotionally energized.
Sometimes the air is clear and nothing else needs to be done than to let the conversation flow.
