Meander: to wander casually without an urgent destination. Pretty much describes my fave conversational method. It allows for sharing of ideas, if you can keep up, or slow down enough. Mostly though, it not only allows for listening, but it also encourages it. “Hearing” others is a lost art these days. Too bad, because we are at a crossroads in our society where listening is crucially important for us all to move forward, to grow… possibly to survive.
An old mentor liked to say, “are you listening to respond, or are you listening to learn?”. Brutal question, begging us to be honest with ourselves. We all have preconceived ideas about what the other person in our conversation is going to say, a parent, a child, a friend, a politician. Allow them to surprise you. Take the moments needed to toss those expectations out the window. Who knows what you may learn, about the world, others, or yourselves.
Book Report: remember books? Awesome invention. Got us outta the caves. Allowed us to share ideas, concepts, opinions, travels, history. I have been reacquainting myself with the Calgary Public Library’s offerings this summer. Ironically, I cannot “put into words” how much this exercise has added to my life. I am grateful for the people who work and volunteer within the CPL organization, they have tolerated my meandering questions calmly the last few months, and if they didn’t have an answer, they got back to me. Warriors battling for side of learning… and listening.
PS: Don’t forget to vote in the Municipal Elections on October 20!
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