'Sin is unavoidable when there is much talk, but whoever seals his lips is wise.' (Proverbs 10:19)
G Chapman uses interesting terms, ‘Babbling Brook’ and ‘Dead Sea’ to describe two kinds of personality. ‘Dead Sea’ type is one who receives experiences, thoughts and emotions but feels no compulsion to share them. On the other hand, ‘Babbling Brook’ describes a person who expresses freely without reflection whatever he/she saw, felt or heard. He/she pays no attention as to whether the other party is interested in what he/she said.
The interesting thing is that these two types of personality tend to marry each other because they find the other party attractive. The ‘Dead Sea’ doesn’t need to deal with awkward situation of having to initiate a conversation, so he/she is happy to let the ‘Babbling Brook’ takes over. The ‘Babbling Brook’ knows that the ‘Dead Sea’ makes the best listener, so he/she is happy to have him/her around.
That is not real communication in a sense. The ‘Dead Sea’ needs to learn to share more than what he/she usually does and the ‘Babbling Brook’ must learn to ask more questions, slow the flow of words, be a better listener.
Personality may influence us, but do not let it control us.
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