I had made a new years resolution that I felt very grown up about. It was to not fill the silence and listen more than I speak. I've failed. I've always thought it was polite to fill the silence when no one is talking. That leads to me having vomit of the mouth and making conversation about absolute nonsense. Which makes me end up sounding like an idiot. So this year I resigned to try to listen more. I have done a little better, trying to keep this resolution but it takes a lot of conscious effort to stop talking and just listen. It is certainly a habit I will have to get used to but I don't want to stop trying, there are so many things that happen when you stop and listen. You learn new things, you have a chance to have a clear mind and just think rather than always thinking about something to say. I watched a TED talk about how to have a good conversation and realized all this time I don't have good conversations, mostly because while the other person is talking i'm always thinking about what I'm going to say rather than listening. She made a comment about how people learn what to do with to show people they're listening, well you don't actually need to learn those techniques if you are actually listening. I want to work on that as well. Good conversations are valuable and insightful and I can't wait to talk less and listen more. Until next time.
-B
-B
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