Accustomed to the veneer of noise, to the shibboleths of promotion, public relations, and market research, society is suspicious of read more

Accustomed to the veneer of noise, to the shibboleths of promotion, public relations, and market research, society is suspicious of those who value silence. Every person in this life has something to teach me - and as soon as I accept that, I open myself to truly listening. -John Lahr.

If A equals success, then the formula is A equals X plus Y and Z, with X being work, Y read more

If A equals success, then the formula is A equals X plus Y and Z, with X being work, Y play, and Z keeping your mouth shut.

A good listener is not someone with nothing to say. A good listener is a good talker with a sore read more

A good listener is not someone with nothing to say. A good listener is a good talker with a sore throat.

There is no such thing as a worthless conversation, provided you know what to listen for. And questions are the read more

There is no such thing as a worthless conversation, provided you know what to listen for. And questions are the breath of life for a conversation. -James Nathan Miller.

To be listened to is, generally speaking, a nearly unique experience for most people. It is enormously stimulating. It is read more

To be listened to is, generally speaking, a nearly unique experience for most people. It is enormously stimulating. It is small wonder that people who have been demanding all their lives to be heard so often fall speechless when confronted with one who gravely agrees to lend an ear. Man clamors for the freedom to express himself and for knowing that he counts. But once offered these conditions, he becomes frigthened. -Robert C. Murphy.

We have two ears and one tongue so that we would listen more and talk less.

We have two ears and one tongue so that we would listen more and talk less.

Wisdom is the reward for a lifetime of listening ... when you'd have preferred to talk. -D.J. Kaufman.

Wisdom is the reward for a lifetime of listening ... when you'd have preferred to talk. -D.J. Kaufman.

An essential part of true listening is the discipline of bracketing, the temporary giving up or setting aside of one's read more

An essential part of true listening is the discipline of bracketing, the temporary giving up or setting aside of one's own prejudices, frames of reference and desires so as to experience as far as possible the speaker's world from the inside, step in inside his or her shoes. This unification of speaker and listener is actually and extension and enlargement of ourselves, and new knowledge is always gained from this. Moreover, since true listening involves bracketing, a setting aside of the self, it also temporarily involves a total acceptance of the other. Sensing this acceptance, the speaker will fell less and less vulnerable and more and more inclined to open up the inner recesses of his or her mind to the listener. As this happens, speaker and listener begin to appreciate each other more and more, and the duet dance of love is begun again. -M. Scott Peck.

It is only by closing the ears of the soul, or by listening too intently to the clamors of the read more

It is only by closing the ears of the soul, or by listening too intently to the clamors of the sense, that we become oblivious of their utterances.