ADVERTENT

January 13th, 2010

Advertent
\ad-‘ver-tent\ adj : giving attention : heedful *

There are many instances in one’s life that demands that he or she be advertent; trying to pass a driving test, paying attention in math class in order to pass the exam successfully, playing music at a suitable level after hours and not running the hot water while roommate is in shower. These examples are minor yet they are still fitting lessons to be applied to much bigger situations, such as perfecting common decency and respect, treating people as they want to be treated; the said golden rule (which is a daily reminder to me via my best friend’s text message signature).
Friendship to some people could be considered an adventure; one that requires work and patience. To others, the ability to maintain friendships is not often classified as a work in progress, instead it is a minute staple in their lives, incapable of being assigned the importance that an individual heedful about his or her relationships would be able to dispense.
Despite what stage a relationship has reached, participants should pay attention to how they incorporate the practice of being mindful to what the other partners in that relationship feel and how rules (there are always rules) should be applied to both or various contributors to said relationship. Being advertent does not include obsessing, unnecessarily stressing about things no longer under that person’s control or apologizing incessantly; these actions only result in painful migraines. Being advertent should be a simple act all its own, much simpler than preserving a relationship itself. The shelf lives of relationships would be much longer if thoughtfulness became a more prevalent ingredient in preserving any type of connection.

* letter “e” both regular and superscript is upside down producing sound of “uh”.