How to Refresh Your Conversations

1. Nugget: How to Refresh Your Conversations

If you feel you've got nothing to say except the same old stale stuff, maybe you need some different experiences to talk about. No new experiences or ideas = "nothing fresh to talk about."

Here are some ways to "break the set" of old habits and find some new experiences to share:

1. Read only novels? Try some nonfiction for a change. Or vice-versa. You can also do this with audio CDs that most libraries carry. Listen as you drive to work or when doing errands.

2. Travel outside your region or country, preferably as a traveler close to the people instead of as a tourist.. You can also combine travel with learning, as with Elder Hostel programs (now called "Road Scholar.") Unable to travel? Borrow some videos from your library and experience new places vicariously. For example, Rick Steves' videos, and Public Television offers travel programs.

3. At your library bookstore, browse the magazines and spend at least a few minutes with ones you've never read. (Try the Utne Reader and The Economist.)

4. Attend some seminars or lectures that interest you. (You can also borrow DVD lectures from a library such as those filmed by the Great Teaching Company.) Ideally, you'll be able to attend in person. If you're near a college, check its schedule of guest speakers. These are usually free to the community.

5. Invite an interesting person to lunch, your treat. Preferably a person with a fascinating background, one you know slightly from your social life or church. You can learn a lot, just by listening. (I recently learned about can manufacturing from a fellow who spent a 40 year career with American Can Company. Amazing!)

6. Take up a new hobby or practice, like playing the ukulele, fly-casting, yoga, or gourmet cooking. Almost everyone has a desired practice they've never acted upon, and hundreds of interest groups and training programs are free.

7. Take a different route to work or to shop. See new roads and neighborhoods. Even if doing so takes you a bit longer, the new sights along the route will be worth it.

8. Try an ethnic restaurant serving food you've never tried. Armenian? Peruvian? Thai? Moroccan? If you enjoy it, you can be the guide when you bring some friends.

9. Learn another language in a class or with a self-directed program. If possible, converse with native speakers of that language.

10. Join a Toastmasters club or form a Mastermind group, learn conversation skills and different viewpoints.

Curiosity is a choice. (Yes, you can choose to be curious.) Curiosity is the key to freedom! As you open your mind and senses to new experiences and points of view, you'll have a lot to talk about.

Until next week,

Loren