ON BEING STILL AND LISTENING

Another IPS (Inner Peace Symptom) 388

“the listener” by Tnarik Innael via Flickr [CC BY-SA 2.0]

Another IPS (Inner Peace Symptom) 388: a tendency to keep still and listen when someone else is talking.

[If you stay still and try to listen with your whole body, the other person can sometimes find the space where they can understand what they want to say.]

There may be times when what another person really wants to tell you gets lost in all of the distractions of your own body-moves and doings or by your off-the-cuff questions and comments inserted into the middle of their words.

Their tongues get all tangled up when their focus is exacerbated by the disturbances of your personal fidgets.

When the information is important for them and for you, try to give them a break. Keep still and try to show them that you are paying attention to what they want to say. It really does help.

Also, when you stay still and you really listen, it often throws off the people who are trying to run a con on you.

It’s funny how slowing down a fast-talking flim-flammer tends to tangle them all up. Interrupting their flow of words gives you time to think straight.

“Nothing but a splash” by Nikk via Flickr [CC BY 2.0]

If you like you can visit the list below to dip into other stories that are (sort of) related to this one. (You can thank Linda Ng for suggesting linking an existing MEDIUM list to related stories.)

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