2005-08-10 - 1:33 a.m.
Please oh Please...
There was an interesting article in Discovery Magazine a couple months ago. The main them of the article was how we observe and react to the mistakes and struggles of others.
This is one of those experiments where they monitor blood flow to different parts of your brain while you carry out tasks and observer others.
The study concluded that when we grow impatient with others, when they make mistakes or don�t understand something, it is because our brain reacts in exactly the same way as if we had made the mistake or couldn�t understand the problem ourselves.
That turned on a light bulb in my brain. I get really frustrated with people when I�m trying to explain something to them and they don�t understand, or we are watching the same movie and they just don�t get it. I�ve tried for years to be more patient and not look at them like they are complete idiots.
After reading that article I started paying attention to my reaction when placed in that situation, and I realized that the feeling of frustration I feel when watching someone is in fact the same feeling I get when I�m struggling with something that just won�t work, say a door that won�t open or a balky drawer.
Somehow being conscious of why I get frustrated is helping me to be more patient.
So know you know, and like GI Joes says, �Knowing is half the battle�
I had to de-flea my dogs. We�ve been using the flea drops that you place on the dogs skin and get absorbed into the bloodstream, essentially turning your dog into a walking slobbering toxic avenger, with blood so poisonous that it kills biting insects instantly.
Anyway, either it has stopped working, or the fleas have become immune to the poison, because the dogs have been scratching like crazy. I searched their fur but didn�t find any fleas. I decided to give them a bath anyway.
As soon as I got them wet I started seeing the fleas, lots and lots of fleas.
Soooo, I gave them a flea bath and sprayed a flea repellant on their fur, they are happy, but unfortunately I didn�t fully understand the personal effect this anti flea campaign would have on me.
Being driven off and robbed of their preferred food source they have begun munching on my ankles. Now I�m scratching like crazy and the dogs are thinking about giving me a flea bath.
I�ll spray the house tomorrow, we don�t have any rugs so there really is no place for them to live, it�s just one more thing to do this week.
Justus
