“When someone really hears you without passing judgment on you, without taking responsibility for you, without trying to mold you, it feels good….When I have been listened to and when I have been heard, I am able to perceive my world in a new way and to go on. It is astonishing how elements which seem insoluble become soluble when someone listens.” Carl Rogers
I begin this corner with this quote from July’s SUN magazine. We can all identify with it. We live in a world becoming more and more polarized with each election and each new societal problem in need of a solution. We have learned to distrust what we hear because half of it is lies used to make us join one side or the other. It’s all about being right, convincing the listener that “I” am right and “you” are wrong.
So, we have stopped listening. We’re too busy, with so much to do before suppertime that we say our quick pleasantries to whomever we meet throughout the day, and there is no real communication. With folks who say little, we don’t even bother to say anything; we just wave and go on about our “business.”