Why People Often Never Answer Your Questions

Image from: cosmopolitan.co.uk

I’m amused how many people often never answer your questions—they answer something else. You ask them how they are and they sometimes answer by asking you back—“How are you?”

My friend showed me his new cam. It was a fine looking gadget. “When did you buy this?” I asked. “It’s a gift,” he said. I asked when and he answered what. Well, I know, he was making a shortcut, getting to the main point instead of having to explain a lot of things. And it’s common sense.

But he should have at least told me when it was given as a gift so I could have an idea when it was bought. Anyway, that wasn’t so important.

So next question was, “Where was it bought?” I asked because I wanted to visit the store and see more of it—and see more cams. I love cams.

“My sister bought it yesterday,” he replied.

My question was where, he answered when.

His first answer to my first question was understandable. But his second was not.

It isn’t an isolated case. It happens most of the time, if not all the time. Wherever you are, most people answer what you’re not asking them.

Why?

It’s what I call mental overload. With so much information easily available to us today, most people think about a lot of things. Their minds are full to capacity from watching a lot from Youtube, seeing a lot from Facebook, and also on TV. Unawarely, they often think of so many things while talking with people, unable to focus on the conversation.

This is where the importance of meditation comes in. We need to appreciate meditation more. Like how Christ emptied himself, we should also empty ourselves and listen more than talk. Meditation is a way of quietly accessing God’s dimension. You do it by concentrating on His WORD and being aware of His Presence in the WORD.

Thus, meditating often trains you to listen carefully, developing sharp hearing, and focusing the mind on what is heard. A lot of people lack this today. All they hear are the thoughts in their minds and answer them instead of the people they’re talking to.

No wonder the attention span of average people is 10 to 15 seconds. And no wonder why more people claim to forget a lot of things and always ask you to repeat what you just said.