Showing posts with label love jones. Show all posts
Showing posts with label love jones. Show all posts

Tuesday, January 27, 2009

"Communication Without Trust"


Darius: “For the last time Nina, Lisa and I are over. You and I are together. So tell me, what is your problem?”
Nina: “How am I suppose to believe that?”
Darius: “Because I just sat here and told you.”
Nina: “Well that’s not good enough.”
Darius: “What are you talking about?”
Nina: “I’m talking about the blackboard, with her phone number on it. I’m talking about the phone calls at 5 am. I’m talking about trying to read your mind…”
Darius: “You don’t know [nothing] about trust. You the one that went to New York and [slept with] old boy.”
Nina: “You acted like you didn’t even care.”

Classic situation of not trusting your partner. Darius says whole heartedly that a woman he was previously dating is no longer an issue, Nina is disagreeing based on the evidence left behind. Darius claims she’s the one not trustworthy since she went out of town to see some ex for closure, when they were beginning a relationship. But Nina only went to because Darius played the “I’m cool” role about it and wanted to prove a point. Really its not that Darius was cool about it, Darius just wasn’t worried since he was doing his “job”.

So now there is this big elephant in the room that no one is speaking on, and because of the silence, it all aggressively came out at once. Bible speaks of being “slow to anger”, and this is one of the main reasons why. Because of Nina’s accusations on Darius, he got so fed up that he broke up with Nina. And judging by the look on her face when Darius spoke those words, that wasn’t her intended outcome of the situation. Letting things linger in the way Nina did, can bring out the opposite of your intentions. Its not just about what you say, it’s how you say it. Food can taste good, but sometimes its presentation will you drive to not even want to find out.

The moral of the story is not whether Darius was lying about dating Lisa, rather that we have to learn to trust what our partner is telling us. Unless it is painfully obvious he/she is lying. I’m not asking you to be naïve of course. Because if you don’t have trust, what do you really have? If you do not trust your partner, then you become this obsessive, insecure stalker who is always challenging the words of your partner, and treating a simple conversation like an FBI interrogation. And who wants that?

I don’t know the solution necessarily because every situation is different. But I do have a theory. That theory is called “understanding.” Communicate with your partner so you can try to understand their point, or whatever their defense is. And really listen to whatever it is they are saying. If you don’t understand how you partner thinks, or the type of decisions they make, then it’s going to be a LONG road ahead of you. Ask rational, intelligent questions without the co-signing of an attitude. And if you do suspect something, do not treat them like you caught them in the act of committing the crime, be normal! Law states, innocent until proven guilty, so keep it that way.

I am going to use myself as an example and then I am done. I am a flirt. Any woman who dates me needs to understand that. I do it for fun, and to keep the air clean. Difference between me and niggas though are my intentions. I may be a charming individual, but I simply press the demo button on the packaging of the action figure. I leave the product in the store where I found it, ya mean?

"Luggage Claim"


I want to give everyone a homework assignment. Watch the movie Love Jones.

I am going to give a basic break down of how you can apply moments in Love Jones to your own life. Lets start from the beginning.

The author/director of the movie seeks to give you a minor introduction of the past of the main characters of the movie, Nina Mosley (Nia Long) and Darius Lovehall (Larenz Tate). The point of the past was to give a glance into what someone experiences and to show how it can become “baggage” later. Baggage is negative, emotional weight that lingers from a previous experience or relationship. First off, all baggage must be checked at the door before entering into a new relationship. Otherwise, you have a bunch of things to deal with before the new relationship can even grow.

You may try to force something or make something new with baggage still in hand, there will always be doors you cannot enter, conversations you cannot have, places you cannot go. You will always end up hitting a brick wall until some closure is formed from the other party.

Baggage is not always bad however. Baggage that has been claimed can be a motivating action or a mind opening realization. It can be a tool for the next relationship and help shield you from certain “attacks” that resemble from a previous relationship. It can help you choose what to look for in a new partner, and what to avoid.

In the movie, Nina has baggage from her last relationship, which was an engagement. In bringing that, she avoids Darius tactics in pursuing her. Though I will say Darius was a bit hasty in his assumption of the type of girl Nina was, thinking dedicating a sexual poem to her and expecting her to want him to jump her bones was not the best approach! That’s because his past comes from a situation of him trying to be a player, which is later explained in the movie.

Bottom line, need to get it together before you and someone else decide to get together.