Is childhood ever long enough, or a happy time, or even a beautiful summer day? All of these carry the seeds of the same fierce mystery that we call death.
Eugene KennedyRead
There is a silence that matches our best possibilities when we have learned to listen to others. We can master the art of being quiet in order to be able to hear clearly what others are saying. . . . We need to cut off the garbled static of our own preoccupations to give to people who want our quiet attention.
Interpretation
Listening to others is essential for understanding and connection.
This quote emphasizes the importance of truly listening to others without the distractions of our own thoughts. By silencing our internal dialogues and being present, we can better understand and connect with those around us, fostering deeper relationships and better communication.
In practice
During a team meeting, one could use this quote to highlight the importance of active listening to encourage collaboration.
Is childhood ever long enough, or a happy time, or even a beautiful summer day? All of these carry the seeds of the same fierce mystery that we call death.
If you ask people what attracted them to the person they love, they never tell you of some perfect feature that focused them on sheer surfaces but rather an imperfection that allowed them to see into their uncharted depths.
The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place.
A speech is something you say so as to distract attention from what you do not say.
I think the written word is probably the best medium of communication because you have time to reflect, you have time to choose your words, to get your sentences exactly right. Whereas when you're being interviewed, say, you have to talk on the fly, you have to improvise, you can change sentences around, and they're not exactly right.
Man, if I get a chance to speak on the microphone, I've got to say something somewhere in there. You know, I'm going to laugh and have fun, too, but something has to be said that has some substance, because this is a platform, and the power that we have with words and with this microphone is phenomenal.
The goal of effective communication should be for listeners to say, 'Me, too!' versus 'So what?'
Speak from your mind and people will hear you with their mind. Speak from your heart and people will hear you with their heart.
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