I recently came across this quote:
“Two things to remember in life; Be careful of your thoughts when you are alone and be careful of your words when you are with people”.
Like all such sayings, there’s a wisdom here. Sometimes the thoughts we have when alone can be very disconcerting. Often we can find ourselves writing a “novel” in our heads and creating all kinds of stories that amount to nothing. We try to second guess what someone said or didn’t, their reaction or lack thereof. Quite often we’ve totally misread the reality of the other person’s intent and, given the chance to discuss matters, find there’s no real issue at all.
Equally words can be dangerous. It’s about balance in life. My father used quote an old neighbour who liked to say: “It’s all right in talking but it’s no harm to say nothing!”
We need to talk and we need to think. We need to be with others and we need to be alone but always, we need balance.