By Ana Lepri
There is a humorous 1-1/2 minute video called Masi, Me Tiro which
is winning awards around the world. It has inspired me to reflect on
how we listen to others. The characters demonstrate that our listening
is often filtered through our personal judgments and preconceptions of
others. This filtering limits our ability to listen. We find ourselves
reacting to what’s being said and to who we think they are based on our
history and their identity (or appearance). We are prisoners of our
stories about them. We are not really listening to what the other person
is saying. In the video, the two men are trapped inside their own circular
conversations, unable to hear or validate the other person except inside
the interpretation they have of them. They react to each other without
listening.[ Read More]
Written by eldering at Learning
Tagged with:
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peter_drucker
 By Jim Selman | Bio
I am one of the folks who love Christmas. I
am not particularly sentimental, nor am I into elaborate decorating or
gift-giving. I just like the music and the general shift in mood that
seems to come with the season. I recognize, however, that not everyone
is ‘happy’ around Christmas time. This is the season for lots of
‘relapses’ in 12-Step programs, a ‘blip’ in suicides, and (of course)
the usual problems associated with too many parties and too much
alcohol. Whatever the reasons, there is definitely a dark side to
Christmas. As I’ve grown older, I see more clearly[ Read More]
Written by eldering at Fearless Aging
Tagged with:
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By Stuart James Whitley | Bio
Continuing on from yesterday's post....
2. Be patient
As the Biblical injunction provides, all things good come to those who
wait. This precondition for good temperament has two elements to it:
time and wisdom. Part of wisdom is the understanding that
active listening is a form of generosity, a key element in a mature
temperament. Waiting for the other point of view, the various possible
perspectives, or even the depletion of emotion, takes discipline.[ Read More]
Written by eldering at Fearless Aging
Tagged with:
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 By Kevin Brown | Bio
Like
me, you can probably remember a relationship you had as a child with an
elderly relative or friend of the family. Some of my best memories of
such a time involve Mrs. Cowling, an elderly lady who lived next door
to us. We had just moved to a new neighborhood in Calgary, and there
were only two completed homes on the block. Our home had the only
family of children for about three blocks. There was my older sister
Paulette (13 years old), myself (7) , and my brand new brother Ken who
was not yet one. Mrs. Cowling was in her eighties[ Read More]
Written by eldering at Wisdom in Action
Tagged with:
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grace
interdependence
listening
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By Kevin Brown | Bio
In
last week's post, I discussed how care for family Caregivers,
especially when the provision of care occurs over prolonged periods,
can leave the Caregiver drained of energy and in need of care
themselves. I noted that Caregivers should endeavor to maintain their
own health, keep up their social network, stay involved with family and
share the caregiving. One gentlemen responded with[ Read More]
Written by eldering at Fearless Aging
Tagged with:
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responsibility
By Jim Selman | Bio
For
years I have thought that we should put a lot more effort into learning
how to receive. I grew up with the idea that it is “better to give than
receive” and have tried to live by that maxim to the best of my
ability. This is not to say there haven’t been plenty of selfish
moments along the way. But I am not talking about being selfish. I am
talking about the value of being truly open to receiving what others
wish to give—and not just material gifts—also things like love,
appreciation, acknowledgement, and gratitude. If everyone is giving,
then we’re going to be frustrated (at best) unless at least half of us
are receiving. Learning to receive is not so easy.[ Read More]
Written by eldering at Wisdom in Action
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Tagged with:
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 By Jim Selman | Bio
I went to the Broadway musical Springtime Awakening this evening. The last musical I cried in before tonight was Les Miserables. Springtime Awakening
is an exceptionally intense, well produced and acted story about youth
coming of age in Germany at some time in what would seem to be the
early or mid-1900s. It is a story that has plenty of parallels today,
including confronting hormone-driven questions about our sexuality,
about friendship, teen suicide, parental sex abuse, back ally abortions
and somehow dealing with the wounds of growing up. But it is also about the failure to connect and communicate with parents and older people in general.[ Read More]
Written by eldering at Fearless Aging
Tagged with:
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listening
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springtime_awakening
 By Jim Selman | Bio
My daughter wrote a blog yesterday ( A World of Performance)
about how technology can move us further and further away from
human-to-human connections. I thought “Wow, I would never have thought
about that at her age”. Her reflections about what is happening to us
as human beings were insightful, but also very useful to me. I have
been promoting use of technology to connect people and never imagined
that it could also divide us. Now I can be more rigorous and prudent in
balancing the risks and rewards.[ Read More]
Written by eldering at Learning
Tagged with:
connection
generation
listening
talent
technology
Life happens while we are having conversations with ourselves and other people. Not learning from others may have a lot to do with not truly
‘listening’ to what others say. Listening is the context that makes
life intelligible, allows anything to have meaning, and forms the basis
for all communication (both written and spoken). It is a whole lot more
than just ‘hearing’ the words that are spoken. I’m always listening,
always bringing a prior interpretation or understanding of my world to
every situation I encounter or can imagine encountering. This is the most basic aspect of being a human being I know.[ Read More]
Written by eldering at Learning
Tagged with:
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 By Charles E. Smith | Bio
Of great influence in my thinking has been The Urban Shaman
by Serge Kahlili King. One of his assertions was that “energy flows
where the attention goes.” My work was always shaped by where the CEO
or the leader was putting his or her attention. My life is shaped by
where I’m putting my attention. And with everybody I knew, their lives
were affected by where they placed their attention. What I hadn’t seen
before was that energy accompanied attention and that certain kinds of
attention enhanced energy. In organizations, outward results can be
directly linked to the energy created from where the attention flows. [ Read More]
Written by eldering at Leadership
Tagged with:
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energy
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