TODAY THE WORDS are BENT OUT OF SHAPE

TODAY THE WORDS are BENT OUT OF SHAPE. My daughter and I had a discussion on how people get “bent out of shape” and during this conversation, we both thought this would be a great blog topic so here goes some thoughts on this subject. I thought I would research what happens to metal when it gets bent and I found out metal heats up when you bend it back and forth. In a discussion forum, this question was asked and answered and it expanded my thoughts on getting bent out of shape.

When you work on the metal, bending it, the energy that you spent on it has to go somewhere. It can either be stored in the metal or show up in some form of energy. In most materials, the work (also called energy) that you do on the part causes its molecules to rub against each other and produce heat (just as you when you rub your hands against each other to warm them). So, the metal gets warm. If you then leave it for a while, it would cool down to the same temperature as its environment by giving up that heat to its surroundings. Answer provided by: Ali Khounsary, Ph.D.

Oh, my mind wrapped around this answer and may I apply it to what my daughter and I were discussing? In life there are certain things or words which can make a person “heat up” or in other words, the words or actions rub against our principles or way of life. This friction produces heat from our energy being transformed from a positive energy to a negative thought or words. Have you ever noticed when a conversation moves from a non confrontational one to a confrontational word match? Molecules of words start rubbing against each other and at the same time, we start getting bent out of shape. We no longer are conversing; we are arguing. Each person tries to maintain their individual shape (position or stance) and it is usually a lot of rubbing against the grain without much accomplishment. However, I would like to put my deeper thought on this…….If you notice the last part of the answer to the question, it says “If you leave it for a while, it would cool down to the same temperature as its environment by giving up that heat to its surroundings.” This is a reflection of the effect of what can occur from a heated discussion, it disperses itself on to outside surroundings (people) and others are affected by our actions. A bent pipe can be tapped out to a semi smooth state, but usually there are weaker spots which might have to be reinforced. In other words, when we have spoken heated words, we have to reinforce the relationship by using calm, cool but loving words to apologize or at least say we understand why the other one feels the way they do. Take time to cool down after getting bent out of shape, reinforce feelings, and show compassion in all things.