Do You Have a Voice of Reason? Well Do You?

I have a voice of reason. The classic little cherub that comes to sit upon my shoulder and whisper in my ear that something I am thinking about doing or saying may not be...oh ok, isn't the right thing to do or say. And I nod and say, "you're right..." but before I ever get the rest of that thought finished *POOF* out pops the little devil on my other shoulder and damn near takes out my carotid artery with his pitch fork. He begins asking questions of "why" and "who is it going to hurt" and "why shouldn't I say/do what I want when I am an adult and my own free thinking person and not a sheep just blindly following the Shepard right over the cliff?" Then the devil and the angel get into their own little argument and while they are distracting each other I more than likely go off and do whatever I was going to do in the first place. So as you can see I do have a voice of reason...more than one as a matter of fact. But I have a feeling if I spent my time giving in to that chubby little cherub I wouldn't be the person I am today.

I have heard the voices in my head and they frighten me at times. I work hard to suppress my excitable self because I am unable to cope with the effects of "intense" debate at present. Even a negative tone against one of my discussions can reduce me to a quivering tearful wreck. And that is no lie. That's why most of my posts are lightweight and pathetically humorous. This medium is indeed a powerful tool and should be treated with more respect than most of us do. I have seen good people, not necessarily those that I have an affinity with, be crushed by careless words on here. The old adage "Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never harm me" is just not true now for many of us. However, when I returned after my "protest" I vowed that I would endeavour to be upbeat and cheerful if I possible could. Whatever the case may be, this is still a good place to be, with many wonderful and caring people from all backgrounds and cultures. We should embrace those differences cheerfully and see them as advantages. We will all be better served that way.

Ah yes, the voices of reason and the getting of wisdom. Such a massive subject depending on how many voices. I often have a debate going on inside my head and to some extent this is a good thing. I learned to meditate and should practice more so those voices quieten down a little! I remember early on when I joined myLot, back in the good ol days (when Steve and fjaril were around.) I was ready to jump in and say anything on this forum, voice my opinion that could have had little regard for the poster. I disciplined myself to think before I posted and to be more objective and hopefully give a more thoughtful response. Posting is no different to being in front of a person, you project the same emotions as you would in real reality, the backlash is the same. Outside myLot, my voice of reason is loud and constant and it effects every decision I make. Because it is constant it can sometimes be a bother - I can find a reason for everything!

i nitpick and analyze myself, possible actions, and thoughts so obsesssively that it drives pretty much everyone around me crazy. im told i over-think things.. dissect things too harshly.. obsess. and theyre right.. i do. there are methods to my madness tho.. when taking the time to not act impulsively.. to think out every action and the possble counteractions of said action in every feasible scenerio in every direction possible..how these possible outcomes would affect others involved, and anticipate what their reactions might possibly be to it.. there are very few times where im left surprised saying "if id known that wouldve happened.. i wouldntve done it" im left with less regrets over my choices and decisions. not to say that everything i ever do turns out exactly the way id hoped it would..of course not.. BUT i was fully aware ahead of time which way the pendulum could possibly swing and what the consequences of that could maybe be. i acceped this possible before making the decision.. and chose to make it the way i did.. so im more prepared for possible outcomes. do i have a voice of reason? it screams loudly everyday..

Awesome yet again, my friend!! Yes, I do have a voice of reason. I do listen to even though sometimes we argue. Do not! Do so! Do not! lol

You never fail to amaze me. The way you word things...it leaves me almost speechless. You put so many people's thoughts into the perfect words for all of them. You speak for many of us here, and that is just simply amazing. Are getting paid for your words somewhere? If not, you really should, its a gift that could sustain you financially. Anyway, I'm off topic again, I guess I allowed that voice to come out. I didn't know we only had two voices, what about the other two that pop up in me so often? Like the voice od compassion-closely related to the voice of passion, but not the same. And then there's the voice of sarcasim, I see this one come out in many people here, they totally neglect the voice of reason and allow the voice of sarcasm to rule their world. ...ok, I lost my train of though here. I walked away for a bit, so I guess if anything else comes to me I'll add it later.

very well said..i used both actually..try balancing but mostly i used reasons..to interact wisely and careful not to offend anybody here since we had different opinions and we should respect on that..just curious of one thing..what about you??

I have a voice of reason, and whenever I listen to it - which isn't as much as I should - it stops me from sticking my foot in my mouth. However, sometimes I, like everyone else, am guilty of engaging mouth before brain. That's gotten me in trouble plenty of times.

Good Afternoon Sparks, You know I like to think that I am that person that listens closely to the inner sanity in my head. I admit though that I am human and sometimes the evil voices rear their ugly head. For the most part, those voices I keep inhibited and under lock and key. I do not like them. I do not like them in other people and they are most certainly unattractive in myself. I will accept your challenge and keep the evil voices even more locked down and choked off....

Hi sparkofinsanity, We all have those voices in our head, although some people may not realize it. There are some topics that get people all riled up, I know that because it has happened to me many times. I have said things that I later regretted, but recently I am trying to listen to that voice of reason. We are all different, and therefore have differing views, lets try to remember that. Blessings.

Would you like to be a teacher and teach this to people? Because that would be great!

I think that i do have a voice of reason. I do not listen to it enough though. I make some pretty dumb decsions sometimes. I need to try to listen to my inner voice more often.

There's never been any raisin for a voice of raisin!! Sorry, Spark, I don't know quite where that came from. Wait, maybe it came from my own head! There might be a little voice of reason up there, I dunno, sometimes I think so, sometimes I think not. My own personal voice of reason comes more from my heart, though, I think, really. That's the loudest voice for me. And it's worked well this far, so why not keep listening to it?But in this particular community, you're looking for a voice of reason?!? You'll find it, you'll find several, in fact, but unfortunately, you'll also find so many voices of UNreason, beligerence (sp), hate, judgment, condemnation and ignorance, so much ignorance, it boggles the mind, at least, for those of us who have one. Those voices are always going to be there, here, everywhere, and the only thing we can do is use our own voice to counter them. Shout it out, like you do, Spark. Don't ever stop typing. Yours is a voice that a lot of people listen to and need to hear. Don't let anyone ever squelch it, or silence it or lower the volume on it. There's lots of us who'll join you in our universal chorus of reason. You've got some right here in this discussion. We can be like the Whos in Whoville, shouting together, "we're here, we're here!!!" till we're finally heard. "We're here, we're here!!!!!" Can you hear us?

spark I also have a voice of reason and have been really trying to use it while mylotting. its so easy to just blurt out something when reading discussions and responding that can be downright hurting or even insulting. So you have to use that voice of reason to look at what you might have said and what you really say. Do I want to actually hurt this person just because I do not agree? Of course I don't so I rethink my response and remember each of us here has a right to his or her opinion and a right not to be disrespected for that opinion.Thus my conscience rules and I am doing unto others as I would have them do unto me. I do not like to be hurt by nasty responses, or flamed by someone just for having an opinion so I am definitely not going to respond with rudeness to someone just because I disagree with them. It is their right to have an opinion and my duty to respect that right.

Well I know you do sweety and I can tell you that I do too! Sometimes my voice of reason is kind of muted and hard to hear due to all the other voices that try to overshadow it but I do try my best to listen to it and make it out - at least to temper the other voices if not lead the way! I totally agree that we should all use our conscience before saying something that might be hurtful or nasty! I thank your voices for prompting you to start such a great post! xxx5

Hello Spark!:-) I have been thinking about responding to this discussion since last evening (my evening, LOL!). I read your very beautifully written discussion starter and I read all responses and took a pause at every response trying to comprehend the depth they have brought to this topic. People have contributed tremendous discussions and I really don't feel that I can contribute as thoughtfully as many already have. For this very reason, I have left this discussion for no less than 4 times and went to other topics where I can 'contribute' a little. But, I finally thought that I can't resist!:-) I have voices of reason and use them often more so in my off-line life than online. I 'try' not to give into impulsive thoughts and try to weigh the consequences before taking an action or making an utterance. That's not possible all the time, though, and sometimes I choose to NOT listen to voice of reason. Sometimes, not listening to voice of reason is what makes us human. My voice of reason may suggest that I should take care of myself, first, before thinking about others, it may ask me to have my meal on time even if I see someone starving, but human inside me would urge me to skip a meal and give it to that person. It may suggest me to keep myself out of trouble but the human inside me would push me not to worry about my own life when I can save another by putting myself in danger. Voice of reason would suggest me to remain away from my partner if she has a viral disease but something inside would say that my being beside her may heal her fast and boost her morale without me being affected. Voice of reason would like me to have proper rest but something else would demand to sacrifice some for others to be in peace. Sometimes, in these situations, I choose NOT to listen to my voice of reason. Sometimes, one doesn't even have time to consider different options and weigh choices. In these times, intuition rules and probably it is the most reasonable voice to listen to even if it means putting oneself in the way of risk and danger and even if it is 'actually' the most unreasonable vice to listen to. A soldier's life is filled with such situations, decisions and actions and a commando's life is much more on these lines than a soldier's life. They don't have time to listen to many voices, often times they act on intuition and built-in mechanism that do not take into account any thought process or conscience! However, I understand that this was not the 'intent' of your discussion. So, other than above mentioned situations, I try my best to be careful not only in what I do and say but also in what I expect. I would sketch my plans, refine them, perfect them and act on what I see is the best course of action. Moreover, I try not to give into 'assumptions' that I may make. As for online affairs, especially on mylot, I was responding to another friend where I said that I have had misunderstandings about many people here but still I try not to 'believe' in what I perceive. I could be totally wrong and I can be right. I try to appraise statements and behaviors and try to react only when something is obvious to me. If I see something disturbing about a friend and get upset, I send them a PM, to ask if there is a problem before concluding anything about them. Whatever they say in return, I trust them and take it at face value. Sometimes though, I have also seen comments where hints were so directed and so clear that it couldn't be a misunderstanding as they referred to things either very specific about me or things related to what I am into. I give myself a pause and do not instantly 'believe' that it's necessarily directed to me, even though signs seem to be quite obvious. Still, I first try to seek out my friend(s) if what they said was directed to me. Having said all that, it is not always possible to listen to voice of reason. Sometimes, temptation is irresistible, urge is overwhelming and impulsive action is satisfying, even if for a little time. I try my best to have these times as little and less as possible. If I were what I was in my youth, however, this would be the case often times, LOL! I am sorry that I was so long, I have tried to be as short, yet, comprehensive as possible. It's not possible for me all the time and I still think that I haven't spoken enough to convey all what I wanted, LOL. So, before you go insane over my rambling, I must run fast out of here!:-)

I think I'm a good though opinionated human being at times. I believe in the goodness of all people, especially a good man. I'm a live and let live kind of gal. So I do listen to my inner voice and try to always make the right decisions though it fails me sometimes like everyone else I guess. In general, I haven't lost myself as the years have gone on but gotten more in touch with myself. There is hope for some of us in this world. Society as a whole, I believe, we are too individualistic. That needs to change. People need to start caring for other people again instead of just caring for what they have or what they will have in the future.

I tend to think I have three voices, and picture them all as me but dressed differently. There's plain old me who wears purple clothes(my favourite colour) there's bad me who is wearing a Devil's outfit, and good me who is a Fairy in Yellow (don't know why I see Yellow as it's not a colour I like!) The one thing I will disagree with though is 'Superior to other life-forms' For all our technology we still don't know how or what human 'thought' is. We can't know what another life form thinks, we can only see how it reacts to certain stimuli. Does a hungry cat think 'time to start yowling' before it starts doing it? Does a Mummy cat think 'time you kids left home' before it starts rejecting it's young? Does a dog think, 'there's the mistress' car' when she hears it? (Mine knows the sound of mine and is always waiting at the door a few minutes before I've parked 3 hundred yards away) and do they think, 'I've got to be there to greet her'? Surely to react to something they must be able to think! Just because they can't tell us those thoughts doesn't make them non-existant! At least the lower creatures I know, don't 'hurt' those that are no threat to them and that aren't seen as a meal. They will even show affection to other creatures and have a relationship with them. They rarely if ever 'kill' their own kind! If thought and reasoning puts us anywhere I'd say it's lower than most other life forms!!! We can't even be 'nice' to our own!

It is sad that since I joined Mylot about two weeks ago that I have seen so many topics of discussion concerning how others treat people on here. And good for you to be one of those standing up for the "voice of reason" because like you I do wonder about where we are heading in our society's future if people do not stop and listen to it. I see this on and off the internet and I have to say that I do listen to my voice. And you are so true in saying that we have 2 voices (thought process and conscience). Everyone has certain thoughts that you just don't say out loud (or should not say out loud), but there are people who just totally bypass that thing in the brain that tells them to shut up. I have read many different topics on here that have lead to many interesting conversations, and some are not even things I agree with or believe in. But isn't that how we grow into who we are? We do not just stop once we become adults and no more education is to be had. It is everywhere, everyday we see it, feel it, hear it. And it is up to us to incorporate it into our lives, or not. It boils down to one word that I have used many times on here in the past 2 weeks....ignorance. And that is not calling someone stupid, or a moron. I am using the word ignorance in reference to the lack of knowledge...and everyone is ignorant to something on some degree. So we just all need to start using our conversation to wake us to humanity as a whole.... Plus, I think we all need to smile more too. Don't you think. Have a great day!