Wikipedia says that in Greek mythology, Narcissus (Greek Ναρκισσος) spurned the love of both boys and girls. A rejected lover prayed to Nemesis that Narcissus would one day know the pain of unreturned love, and this curse was fulfilled when Narcissus became entranced by the image of a boy he later discovered only to be his own reflection in a pool. A nymph, Echo, loved this beautiful boy, but she could never get his attention. He remained by the water's edge, and she eventually pined away waiting for him...until nothing was left of Echo but her sad, pleading voice, and Narcissus turned into the flower that bears his name (see Narcissi). Yep, the ubiquitous and many-variant daffodil is the narcissus.
I bring this up because today's reading is about the Self-Absorbed tongue. This is the person who talks about herself all the time. No matter what situation you bring up, she turns it back to herself.
This is another one that I've struggled with, but have done better as I've matured. For one thing, I've met so many interesting people on my life's journey that I've realized I'm not always the most entertaining person in the room! And I've also realized that when I am broadcasting, I can't hear what others are saying about their joys, their pains, their struggles, and their celebrations. Someone told me a long time ago that the smartest person you'll ever meet is the person with whom you have a conversation and never learn a thing about them. Think about it.
Self-absorption is centered in insecurity. What a surprise - so many of these less desirable tongue-traits are rooted there.
Lord, help me today to find others interesting, and to hold my tongue no matter how interesting I think my story is. Show me something new about one of my friends that I never knew before because I wasn't listening.
2 comments:
I love talking about myself but it's usually all in fun. I think sales people are really good at it myself. Sometimes when I'm around people like that I just want to say can you talk about anything else? LOL. Then I'd be talking in forked tongue. LOL
This one is hard for me, too. I grew up the youngest and always the center of attention. I recall being quite surprised to learn the whole world didn't think me as important and clever as my family. It took me an even longer while to learn that it was better for me that they didn't. (Sometimes I still need reminding.)
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