Flexible vs. Literal

Yes, I'm trying to learn how to be more flexible and "go with the flow." Of course, I don't want to get so flexible I'm wishy-washy. Physical flexibility is important, too, although I doubt I'll ever be able to touch my heels to the back of my head. Did I tell you we have to do stretching at the beginning of each shift and after lunch? They're kind of a joke as the whole thing only takes about two minutes.

I wonder about "flexibility" -- is it just not caring or having an opinion? If it being able to change one's mind if someone has a better idea? Is it not just listening carefully but also evaluating and absorbing someone's else's opinion?

And "inflexibility" -- is it a function of age, in that by a certain age one has tried so many things and made so many decisions and formed so many opinions that one no longer has to consider every single thing afresh?

Thanks that make you go "hmmm."

What I'd really like to work on is being less literal. Not literate, literal. For example, someone recently told me I smelled good. Instead of saying thanks or how nice or good, I said well, I just took a shower, which kind of put a damper on the whole exchange. It's the first type of response that comes up and it isn't always the most appropriate or what I'd really like to say, it just comes up in a sort of babble. This is probably why I've been accused in the past by male friends (of the close persuasion) of not being romantic. They never get the expected romantic response, which is in my mind, I swear, it's just not what gets blurted out.

This literalness is probably why I don't do so well thinking in the abstract and need analogies and concrete examples before I understand something. You know, words of one syllable.