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Don't Lose the Art of Conversation 

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one of our granddaughters just turned seven. Such a bright little person I love how her mind is always churning; she's always thinking and keeps her little notebook and pencil close to write out her thoughts or practice her letters. 

There is something else I love about little Allyssa; She loves to chat. Or I should restate that. Allyssa loves to engage in conversation. As long as I can remember, ever since she learned how to talk, she will ask, " wanna sit down and talk?" Whenever she visits us in our home or we go to hers, one of the things I can count on her saying is, "Let's go somewhere and talk Nana." 

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Even at seven years old Allyssa asks questions. She wants to engage the one she's talking to. Allyssa is asking about things that interest you; she's listening and responding. She's eager to learn what your life is about. Even at such a young age, Allyssa seems to be natural at the art of conversation. 

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There's so much we can learn about others and ourselves when we engage in conversation. When we allow the give and take, back and forth to happen. When we both talk and listen. 

 The " art of conversation" is the most basic social covenant. It's engaging in dialogue. Rarely are people taught how to converse. Yet we all seem to know how to make conversation. Even when we aren't brilliant raconteurs, we all seem to follow certain (hidden) rules and make it work for us.

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For as long as the earth has been in existence people have been engaging in conversation and learning about one another through it. One of the traits of God's feminine creation is our natural inclination to engage one another in conversation. We are inquisitive. If you enter an atmosphere where women are collected, chances are you will hear   nonstop chatter. Women are talking. Engaging with one another. 

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My husband says I'm the only person he knows who can find out a person's life journey in just five minutes of conversation. I'm sure I'm not the only one. I'm certain there a of us who are great at the art of conversation.

re untold numbers who love chatting with others even if it's only briefly. I'm sure there are untold numbers of us who are great at the art of conversation. 

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Sisters, modern modes of communication are great! I am the first one to say I love a good texting convo. But I'll aslo admit that a lot of things get lost in a text. You can't hear inflections or read emotions or the true intent behind a response. Sometimes texting can lead to issues and misinterpretations, so we need to be careful and police our text before we send them out. And we should never be distracted when texting responses to others. More family feuds have erupted, and friendships have been broken over things that should never go out through texts. Emails are a great alternative and way we can send longer responses or conduct business, but there's nothing like the actual one on one talking time. 

 

As we opt for faster modes of conversing as opposed to talking, when we consistently choose other asynchronous forms of communication such as texting, at best, they provide a pale illusion of satisfaction. we'll miss out on extraordinary powers that excite our neurons and activate reward systems to our brain. 

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This might be a good week to take an assessment and ask ourselves when's the last time we had a good talk with the people we care most about. The next time we're tempted to use quick mode we might want to close out the text and make that call even if it's only to chat for a minute or two.

A lot can change in life, especially as we age and demands on our time increase, but I pray my little granddaughter Allyssa never loses her love of one-on-one conversations and continues to ask that question 

"Hey, want to sit down and talk?"

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