CombinedNSP Site Admin
Joined: 13 Dec 2006 Posts: 1406 Location: Cleveland, OH
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Posted: Dec Sun 17, 2006 1:21 pm Post subject: Really Listening |
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Really Listening
An excerpt from the wonderful book "Tuesdays with Morrie…....."
"I believe in being fully present," Morrie said. "That means you should be with the person you're with. When I am talking with you now Mitch, I try to keep focused on only what is going on between us. I am not thinking about something you said last week. I am not thinking about what's coming up this Friday. I am not thinking about doing another Koppel show, or about the medications I'm taking. I am talking to you - I am thinking about you."
"Part of the problem, Mitch, is that everyone is in such a hurry," Morrie said. "People haven't found meaning in their lives so they're running all the time looking for it. They think the next car, the next house, the next job. Then they find those things are empty too and the keep running. The truth is I don't have to be in that much of a hurry -I would rather put my energies into people."
Morrie did this better than anyone I have ever known. He was ready to openly display the emotion so often missing from my baby boomer generation. We are great at small talk: "What do you do? Where do you live?" But really listening to someone -- without trying to sell the something, pick them up, recruit them, or get some kind of status in return – how often do we get this anymore?
Tuesday with Morrie: an old man, a young man, and life's greatest lessons.
By Mitch Albom
Listening Leader Lesson: Morrie practices the wisdom of listening to others! How about you? |
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