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From: Russ Hicks
Date: 19 Oct 2007
Time: 10:29:08 -0500
Remote Name: 71.123.180.215
Hi Meghan, Thanks for reading my article and for your kind words. You asked, "...how long did it take you...?" You want the short answer or the long answer? <grin> The short answer is FOREVER! It's a LONG process. ..... The long(er) answer is because the head and the heart (intellect and emotions) learn at vastly different rates. The head learns by reading books, listening to lectures, etc. And that's relatively easy and quick. The heart, however, learns by millions of repetitions of experiences. And that is a FAR longer and slower process. And the heart often rebels at what the brain is telling it to do: "Relax and it'll be okay." "You LIE! You're an idiot! They'll laugh at me!" "No they won't. Trust me." "I'm not about to trust you! It's gonna hurt too bad!" "No it won't..." ... You ever have conversations with yourself like that? Ha, ha, ha! We all do. ..... My repetitions came with my experiences in Toastmasters. It's a WONDERFUL organization for self improvement. I kept getting extremely positive feedbacks from my fellow Toastmasters week after week after week after week. And still it took many years for my heart to accept the fact that it really was okay to stutter, that as long as I could COMMUNICATE well, people didn't mind disfluencies. ..... I hope this answers your questions, Meghan. I wish you the very best! ..... Russ