Knowledge Advocate

Where do our talks happen and with whom do we have them?

Here’s the break down:

1) talk in our own heads is “here talk”;

2) the close-by conversations we have with friends and others is “near talk”; and

3) talk with folks we may not know well or with whom we do not share much in common is “there talk.”

Let me explain.

Here talk.

“Here talk” happens right here; as in, no one else is around. We use our “inner” ear to hear here.  Here here! Here talk is always with us. These talks loop around all day long. Listen to this chatter, it’s amazing! We are constantly chatting ourselves up: this is our “here talk.”

Near talk.

“Near talk” is the talk that happens close by. These talks we share with our intimate circles of friends, trusted work colleagues, and family. This is the minitalk of our minitribes. We like these talks (mostly) because they are familiar to us. We also accomplish a lot of our important stuff during these talks.

There talk.

“There talk” is the talk that happens further away from us. As in, not here, there. There there. When more people are present, near talk shifts to there talk. This talk often happen with folks we don’t know all that well. This is also the signature talk of our large tribes, which is also “Big Talk.”

Neither here nor there.

Too often, our talks are neither here nor there. When that happens we feel uncomfortable. Something isn’t right. We are missing something, we can’t see the whole picture, we’re not getting it. It’s neither here nor there, and the place in between is no fun at all.

Here and there.

Sometimes though, everything just clicks. That’s when we are here and there. When that happens, we get it. This is the best feeling, often it’s when we sense the “aha” moment. We finally get it! We understand, share feelings, and have no doubts.

My hunch.

I reckon we can talk here and there more often than we do. We can bring these two kinds of talks together so there is no distance between them. Sure, it’ll take work. For example, it means we’ll have to know where here is. Next we’ll have to go ahead and figure out where there is. That’s great, because once we know where our talks stand, we can then accept the space in between. And then, shrink it.

Shrink it.

That’s right, that’s the final step: shrink it! Shrink the space in between there and here. When that happens, we make there here. And when that happens, we have found common ground, cleared things up, and crafted mutual understanding. That’s when we really get it.

[I know, easier said than done. Oy.]