Missão carismática 2

Mission for Week 2 is Making Statements.

You are going to go out every day, and make 10 statements to 10 strangers. This could be anywhere you’d usually go during the day, or somewhere you’d like to go but avoid that place because it makes you uncomfortable for whatever reason. Some places you may find useful are, a store you usually shop in, a mall, a coffee shop, a bookstore, a flea market, stores down town, etc.. If you think of some other cool places I haven’t mentioned that would be useful, list them.

The exercise for this week, or it may be a month because I don’t have anything particular planned yet for every week of the summer, is to pay attention to your thoughts. Every one of us has thoughts that come up in our heads every moment of our lives, so when you’re out pay attention to your thoughts. And whenever you do relate things to yourself, make sure you use the “I” perspective.

What I’ve noticed is that whenever I’m out somewhere and I start to worry “oh man I’m going to have to talk to strangers, oh man what if it’s a beautiful woman?” and I get all freaked out and nervous, then whenever I do think of something I usually keep it inside because I’m so worried. But whenever I pay attention to what I’m thinking and express my thoughts verbally, I just feel my fluff talk with strangers flows without any hurdles in the way. Like last week, during the week of finals, I was in line to get food. And this was a line for the food you pick yourself with a plate in your hand and pay $3 a lb. So I see these deep fried cheese stick looking things and I’m thinking “what the hell are those?” so I ask this girl in front of me “what are those things right over there?” She says “those are shrimp”, and I go “ohhhhhhhhh, cuz I was thinking they are cheese sticks”.

Remember, don’t worry about how people are going to react or whether or not you’ll even get a reaction, this is all about getting comfortable expressing your thoughts verbally. Pay attention to what you’re thinking, and just let it out the second you think it. Make sure it’s positive or something that you are curious about.

You see a woman with a nice dress and you think to yourself wow, that’s a great dress. I like those little flowers BAM, just say it out loud. You see a guy wearing cool shoes, express it verbally. Who knows, that guy may even give you tips on style. Whether or not he does give you tips doesn’t matter, this isn’t about giving compliments, this isn’t about hooking up with someone, or getting something back in return, it’s all about getting comfortable with yourself expressing your feelings out in the open.

If you are really uncomfortable doing this, do some warm ups. Good warm-ups I find useful are, making statements out loud to myself, saying hi to strangers, commenting on the weather and how I feel about it if someone’s around.

Remember, pay attention to what’s inside your head and once it’s something you wonder or think about, say it out loud.

Good luck!

p.s. If you are unsuccessful in completing your mission one day don’t worry about it, as long as you are out every day somewhere keep focusing on whatever you are trying to accomplish. If you miss making 10 statements today, don’t worry about doing 20 tomorrow, just get out there and do 10 the following day.