What if Irony is Judging Others for Lacking Empathy?
There is no such thing
as “over-”
thinking.
There is merely
“thinking”
that either we
or others
judge
as “too much.”
Instead of judging ourselves or others,
may we realize empathy
with our own thought process
so we can learn
why
our mind is behaving the way it is,
then support them
to address its concerns
to relieve it
of its tension.
“Am I stubborn?”
asked the founder.
“Your thought process
is constantly being
interrupted.”
I responded.
“What do you mean?”
he asked,
looking puzzled.
“For you
to change your mind,
you have to think things through,
right?”
I asked.
“Yes, of course.”
he answered.
“But if people around you
are only telling you
what they think,
your thought process
can constantly get
interrupted.”
I continued.
“Unless a space is created,
where you can think through things
without being interrupted
you will be unlikely
to change your mind.”
I remarked.
One
of the hardest things
I had to learn in art school
was how to stop
thinking.
At first,
I just told myself
to stop thinking,
which made me think
more.
I only stopped thinking
after I learned
to empathize with my materials—
be it wood,
or metal.
And I only learned
to empathize with my materials
after interacting with it
over
and over
and over again,
learning
to support
and to be supported
in that relationship.
Until there was
trust.
Trust
that came from
having co-developed
a contract
of support.
A creative process
we casually call
“making”