Last night at the New Years Eve Party, I met a woman who talked deeply with me. She just got to the point and we discussed how people don’t listen to each other anymore. We stop listening when we find out if the other person is on our side or not. If they are on our side, well wonderful and magical and all walls come down, but if they are in the other camp, forget it. We waste our lives doing that . People in the other camp are just as valid and interesting as we are but we never find that out when put the brakes on immediately .
All you have to do is listen , ask how they got to that a point of view and listen to their story. They have different experiences than we do and why not find out more about that. Maybe they have something valuable to share and we are being idiots for not hearing a different perspective.
I think the news media puts us into camps and we fall into the trap of going along with it, a fight makes good copy, but it ruins the world. If we could be curious and listen to each other without camping out, it would be life changing.
It was a great conversation for a New Years Party and one I hope to practice.