Resting State
29 August 2006
Over a quiet lunch yesterday, I asked my honey, Nikov, what he was thinking. He grunted, “nothing.”
“Nothing!” I trilled. “How can you think nothing? That’s impossible, you had to be thinking something! Speak to me! Tell me what you were thinking.”
Again he said, “Nothing. I was not thinking about anything, my beauty.”
What is it with men that they can be on one minute, and then apparently brain dead the next? I mean it’s enough to drive a girl stark raving bonkers to the degree that an argument is on the cards all because he insists “nothing” and we insist “something.”
So with “Nothing my ass!” foremost in my mind, I spent some time Googling and discovered a very interesting fact about the male brain versus the female brain.
Apparently, the male brain really does enter a state of rest, several times a day in fact. More specifically when men are sitting.
Perhaps they’ve finished lunch, they’re staring into space while we’re chatting to them and well, right about then their thinking can actually suspend, i.e. their brain has entered a state of rest and nothing is being thought.
Whereas a female brain in a state of rest is still active, i.e. when we’re awake our brains are on all the time. The long and short: if we say we’re thinking nothing, we’re lying! Well sort of.
Now here’s the solution to this biological difference – take note because it has the potential to ward off any silly arguments about “nothing” versus “something.”
Go for a walk!
Yep, stir his brain into action by being active. In other words, hold off on those intense chats about his commitment issues, or your commitment issues for that matter, until you’re outdoors strolling, hiking, biking etc. etc. and the operative position, apparently, is elbow-to-elbow, rather than eye-to-eye.
This explains why some fellas have meetings on the golf course. Swinging a golf club helps them think and all that strolling elbow-to-elbow helps them connect.
If you’re not into golfing, hiking, biking, et al, don’t worry, there’s bound to be some other activity you can do together that will foster the appropriate brain wave activity for the big discussion. But not lunch!
And if you do end up eye-to-eye over a meal, then resist the temptation to do anything but eat and enjoy your food, otherwise you’ll come up against male gruntings along lines of “nothing.”
