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One Word to Stop An Argument
& One Word To Make It Worse

“The aim of argument, or of discussion, should not be victory, but progress.” – Joseph Joubert

According to Hal Runkel, a marriage and family therapist, couples who use the word “ouch” can communicate to the other person that whatever was said has hurt you and that you are showing your vulnerability.  I thought about how this new piece of knowledge might assist clients with their real estate transactions and am still mulling over this.  However, I have had home sellers in the past say just that – “ouch” when they received a lowball offer, or a time when a buyer received a counter offer much higher than what they were anticipating.  We likely use this word more often than we realize. I honestly thought the word “ouch” was followed by a string of strong words when you hit your head getting out of the shower, or when you stub your toe.  I did not understand until this week how much power was in 4 little letters.

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Total Eclipse of the Brain

Not that many centuries ago, an eclipse like we just experienced, struck fear into everyone’s hearts, as opposed to now being a spectacle to behold.  Pretty easy to understand the terror of something when you had absolutely no understanding of what was actually happening.  Imagine how those people felt when the sun at its peak in the day went dark? Then living with the uncertainty of what happened and thinking, was it an omen?

Today, we know better, at least the majority of us do. We know exactly what is happening and why not only with an eclipse, but many other events that happen in our day to day lives we can no longer need to stress over. Yet for many of us, we let our Neanderthal thought patterns rule our days.

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Langley Arts Alive

Had a great weekend at the Arts Alive event in Langley. A lot of people enjoyed the many art forms in the good weather. We had the opportunity to show some of my art and talk with a few folk about the art of real estate.