You Don't Have to Attend Every Argument You're Invited To

Or... conversations. 3 Dot Wednesday version.

Conversations with Your Soul: “Oh, Thank God.”

The man at the next table is explaining to his date why British economic imperialism is ruining the world, STILL!... While she nods politely and mentally composes her grocery list... Sometimes the kindest thing you can do is let people finish their monologue to an audience of one...

I rediscovered the superpower of strategic silence this week… Not the passive-aggressive kind... The kind where you realize you're not the unpaid tutor for every wrong opinion in a five-mile radius... Your soul breathes easier when you retire from being the Reality Police...

Overheard a woman confidently declare that the moon landing was filmed in Hollywood... Her friend just smiled and changed the subject to lunch plans... Wisdom isn't always about correction... Sometimes it's about conservation of energy...

That relative at dinner parties who knows everything about everything... From international politics to your neighbor's marriage... While you practice the ancient art of "Mmm-hmming" and passing the potatoes... Your soul appreciates not being conscripted into every battle for truth...

Most conversations aren't conversations... They're parallel monologues performed by people waiting for their turn to speak... Your job isn't to be the stage manager... Sometimes the best gift is witnessing someone's need to be heard...

The social media comment sections where strangers debate strangers about things that happened to other strangers... Your soul watches from a safe distance... Knowing that arguing with someone's strongly held delusion is like trying to convince water to flow uphill...

That friend who interrupts your story to tell you how your experience reminds them of their experience... Which reminds them of another experience... Until your original point drowns in their narrative river... Sometimes listening to someone not listen is its own meditation...

The beautiful futility of facts versus feelings... Logic versus belief... Evidence versus identity... Your soul knows that most people's opinions are just their wounds wearing academic robes... Changing minds isn't your ministry...

Watching a customer berate a teenager about store policies the kid didn't create... The teenager's eyes glazing over in practiced endurance... Some storms you weather... Others you let pass over someone else's parade...

The relief of realizing you don't have to attend every argument you're invited to... Don't have to correct every factual error... Don't have to educate every confident ignorance... Your soul has better things to do than referee reality...

That moment when you stop trying to change people's thinking and start enjoying the entertainment value... The creativity of human delusion... The artistry of selective reasoning... Your soul develops a sense of humor about humanity's relationship with truth...

The deepest wisdom: Most people aren't wrong because they lack information... They're wrong because being right about this specific thing satisfies an emotional need you can't see... Your job is to love them... Not lecture them...

"What three-dot observation would you add?"