Tag: other people

Listening to others

Posted on by philipdodson
Listening by Philip Dodson
Listening by Philip Dodson

It is not about assessing when you can break into the conversation, waiting for the other person to pause for breath to jump in or thinking what you are going to say next while the other person talks.

Listening is not hearing what we think the other person is saying, as often we think we know what the person is going to say before they say it.

How often do we really listen to the other person?

How often do we stop the thing we are doing and give the person who is speaking our full attention and eye contact?

How often do we actually put our phones or tablets down while someone speaks to us?

Listening is much harder to master than talking, yet it is the only way to really be able to know what the other person is really saying and not what we think they are saying.

Two sides

Posted on by philipdodson

img_8820

There are two sides to most things, well some things have a few more, but I’m not referring to a cube, more the interactions between people.

Yet if we react in a defensive or aggressive way, we cloud any assessment and simply see only our own side. We often engage our limbic ‘chimp’ brain and use one of the ‘f’s, fight.

However, a very brief moment of pause and reflection allows you to see the other side.

It’s like taking a patch off an eye to see the whole picture.

Life is totally different when you can see the full the picture.

Our side might or might not be right, but who can tell with only one perspective?

Take a walk in the other person’s shoes.