On Listening
I love to listen. I like to talk a lot too. I have opinions about everything but I love to listen. It first came as a need and then as a gift that I give to others now. I wanted to be a person that people like and the thing that topped the list in every self-help video, book or an article was to listen. I worked on the skill for years. Along the way, I realised how much people want to to be heard. Becasue no one is ready to listen to anyone, either they are not interested or they want to talk first. Now, after all these years, it still requires some effort to get into the listening mode but it is comparatively much easier.
I love how people have so many amazing stories to share and how beautiful they are - men and women, both. You just look at them and listen what they have to share. They have so many amazing thoughts inside them. They observe everything like you and have opinions about small things. They have such subtle difference in perspective to you that you get amazed. When you thought your opinion was "the thing", they will show the third face of the coin which in your small mind never existed.
When you listen, loving the human being that is speaking is inevitable. You want to hug them and appreciate them for opening up and sharing their mind. You want to tell them for how beautiful their sight is that sees things in this way, how introspective is their dispositon to think in this manner and how articulate is their speech, for an ordinary meeting, that they are able to commuincate that what is on their mind so clearly.
I met a Chinese acquaintance last weekend. We had a long conversation in Starbucks. We talked about a lot of things and I enjoyed every minute of our conversation. We talked on politics and books, and how our minds stores information. He told me how he avoids short-form content and is more interested in garnering knowledge instead of consuming disconnected chunks of irrelevant information. I drank my Belgian Dark chocolate flavoured coffee, while he shared his opinions on every question that I had about the Chinese people and culture which I had not asked anyone despite living here for two years now.