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.

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.

The greatest gift you can give another is the purity of your attention.

The greatest gift you can give another is the purity of your attention.

Much silence makes a powerful noise. -African proverb.

Much silence makes a powerful noise. -African proverb.

The greatest compliment that was ever paid me was when one asked me what I thought, and attended to my read more

The greatest compliment that was ever paid me was when one asked me what I thought, and attended to my answer. -Henry David Thoreau.

I have learned as much about writing about my people by listening to blues and jazz and spirituals as I read more

I have learned as much about writing about my people by listening to blues and jazz and spirituals as I have by reading novels.

A good listener is usually thinking about something else.

A good listener is usually thinking about something else.

Everything has been said before, but since nobody listens we have to keep going back and beginning all over again.

Everything has been said before, but since nobody listens we have to keep going back and beginning all over again.

The wise old owl lived in an oak; The more he saw the less he spoke; The less he spoke read more

The wise old owl lived in an oak; The more he saw the less he spoke; The less he spoke the more he heard: Why can't we all be like that bird? -Edward H. Richards.