A few days ago, I came across this completely unexpected scene on my morning run (illustrated here as I had no phone with me).
On the edge of a small lake in the park, a never-seen-before turtle was trying to make friends with a duck. The duck was having none of it though and was clearly unimpressed by this stranger.
I watched them for a while. The turtle just stretched out its neck, reaching towards the duck and patiently waited for some sign of recognition. The duck was pretending to be asleep, but kept a beady eye on this newcomer and was ready to bolt if needed.
I was wondering what was going through their minds. With animals, it is so much easier to see a situation as it is and know what the dynamics are.
With people, it can be so much harder to gauge a situation, to know where we stand, to work out how to tell others something that might be difficult, to figure out whether we should speak a truth or if it might be kinder or easier to lie… We navigate our emotional clutter all the time when we deal with others.
How aware are you of your emotional clutter? Does it sometimes get in your way? If you want a thinking partner to de-clutter some of it, get in touch and let’s talk.