stimulus interruptus
One of the great things I've discovered about blogging is all the little connections that result and the tangents that can't help but form from all this stimuli. Early this morning I was sampling my favourite blogs with my morning tea when this paragraph of Kyknoord's grabbed me:
Naturally, the most important aspect to this kind of communication is receiving a reply to something specific that I have written. I suppose I'm just an amoeba at heart, because I'm totally locked into the stimulus-response cycle.
He's actually referring to email communication rather than blogging, but the whole simplicity of this concept, applied in a general way, which I'd never considered before, was like a revelation to me. My friends, back when I had flesh-and-blood ones, used to call this "an Andrea moment."
All of a sudden I've been applying the breakdown of the stimulus-response cycle to every relationship I've ever had that failed. Each failure can be plugged into one of two possibilities: (a) I wasn't being adequately stimulated making me into the relationship's executioner, or, more likely, (b) I wasn't getting adequate response, which usually resulted in my beheading after a prolonged period of imprisonment. Either way you look at it, it's stimulus interruptus.
Okay, so if we're really all just single-celled organisms pretending to be more evolved how come some relationships last for decades or more and never seem to run out of steam? Science must decree that the cycle inevitably runs itself down, mustn't it?
PS Speaking of s-r, thanks to those who've responded to me since I changed my URL and, at the very least, effectively cut my readership in half. Would I have written this post if you hadn't? :)
posted by andrea at 9:40 p.m.
10 Comments:
Andrea, thanks for visiting. I promise, I will write more, however, I have been busy with several other blogs. Check out my www.seagypsyexpeditions.blogspot.com if you need a fix.
I love your stimulus interruptus concept! By the way, I noticed you're in B.C. - I'm visiting in Kelowna right now.
You know, if one person proposes something, it's a theory. If two people subscribe to it, it's a School of Thought, so I guess that makes you the Principal :)
I'm still with you Andrea, in the "flesh and blood". I loved that comment.
I am still your faithful reader! the only way that I can think of relationships lasting for extended periods of time with steam is if you really except how flawed we are and you have the ability to compromise a lot. Just when you think you might know, everything changes.
Barbara: I'd better not look. I spend too much time in a fantasy world as it is. :) PS Kelowna is land-locked. You must be a very gifted sailor.
Kyknoord: And for that you deserve a detention!
Brian: But how do I *know* that you're flesh and blood? (I've been reading Kyknoord's blog too much lately. He might suggest you're a 'bot or a bored ISP administrator.)
Val: Does that mean I'd have to start compromising my "principals"? (This is where I need to go away...)
jajajajaja!!!, that´s totally true, jaja!!
Stimulus - where does your not-conscious self reside?
Yes you would have written the post anyway ... we could all promise not to comment on another post as an experiment to see whether you would post again ... :)
This is a brilliant post--exactly what I've been thinking. I'm such a stimulus response person when it comes to my writing, my art, my blogging, my friendships--online and in person. I catch myself immediately sulking if I say something, expecting a response, and don't get the 'right one' from my husband... or anyone else for that matter... But then, to admit that sounds frightfully small, doesn't it?
I'm terribly sorry I didn't change your url sooner. It's done now. :)
Alas, I think I'd be a more content person if I WASN'T so hooked into response. It drives me crazy (not to mention Hubby) sometimes. I did lose your blog again, (twice now!), but now I've bookmarked it and replaced the old. I need to check out the intriguing Kyknoord.
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