Raise your hand if you can accurately read the minds of your girlfriends. My guess is that, at least for a few, you actually can. Larry and I can read each other’s minds at times. When you’ve spent about two thousand days with someone you love, that happens. (It’s not always a good thing, btw.)
Now, raise your hand if you can accurately read the minds of the men you are dating or have had short relationships with. Anyone? Okay, now raise your hand if you’ve tried to read the minds of the men you are dating or have had short relationships with. I bet you have, and I bet you can’t.
I bring this up because of something that happened to my friend, Jan. I think this is a great story of how becoming more aware of your thoughts and actions can make a really nice change in your life. This includes managing the propensity to read men’s minds.
Jan’s Meet Date
Jan’s on what we call a “meet date” with a new guy she met through online dating. Jan appropriately coined these as meet dates because it’s just that: a way for two people to meet. It’s only after this that you decide if you want to go out on a real date. I think she’s brilliant for thinking of it this way because, guess what, many men see it this way. When they do, it means they may not be in their full-throttle, romantic, wow-the-woman date mode. Give this some thought. Knowing this may affect your high expectations for these types of dates. But I digress. (What else is new?)
Anyway, Jan and Mr. New Guy are having lunch. They’ve talked a little and she thinks he’s a nice guy. Her lunch is served along with her iced tea, but the waitress never brings the requisite straw. They’re sitting just a short distance from a table where straw-o-rama awaits. Jan looks over at that table, looks at Mr. New Guy, and waits for him to get up and get her a straw. He doesn’t. So Jan asks, half joking, “Hey … aren’t you going to get up and get me a straw?” To which Mr. New Guy replies, “Nope, I was looking forward to watching you walk over there.” A sheepish smile follows.
