Harvey

I often think I might have a split personality, sometimes I am quiet and sometimes I am outgoing. I wonder how many of us have the same way of looking at life.

When I am in a quiet mood I find that people, sometimes virtual strangers, tell me their deepest secrets. I think it is because when they talk, I don't judge, I just listen and I hear their story. I also don't offer advice or rarely do. When I was young I gave advice and found it was usually ignored so I no longer give advice. 

I really like a movie called Harvey. James Stewart plays a man who sees a "Pooka", whose name is Harvey. No one else can see Harvey but James Stewart. In the movie, the character played by James Stewart befriends many people just by listening to their stories, and when they are finished telling him all their troubles and sorrows, he introduces them to his friend Harvey, and as his character says in the movie.  And they tell about the big terrible things they've done and the big wonderful things they'll do.They tell me Their hopes and their regrets,  their loves, and their hates. All very large, because nobody ever brings anything small into a bar. And then I introduce them to Harvey. And he's bigger and grander than anything they offer me. And when they leave, they leave impressed.

When people are sharing their secrets with me,  my quiet self-shows them through non-verbal language that no matter what they have to say, I will not lose my respect for them. I also do not introduce them to my invisible friend.  Sometimes it is easier to tell a stranger your problems then it is to tell a friend. I wonder why that is.