It’s All Right There When You Listen

For Scribbled Lives we were given the name Brian Andreas. His art and quotes are well known and we were asked to use any of his quotes for our work this week. I chose this one as it tells us a little bit about his process:

People ask me how I come up with the stuff I do.
I tell them it’s all right there when I listen.

– Brian Andreas

It’s all right there when I listen…very wise indeed! And we all think we are good listeners, when most of the time we are only waiting for our chance to chime in or turn the conversation to something about ourselves. THAT isn’t listening.

If you already know what you want to say before the person speaking is done talking, you are not listening.

If you already know the story to top the one being told, you are not listening.

If you have heard this comment, thought or idea before and know how it will turn out, you are not listening.

And if you interrupt, interject, or even help them say what they are saying, you are not listening.

We all think we are great conversationalists, that’s not true. A good person to converse with is a really good listener. Good listeners ask clarifying questions, which keep the other person talking so the listener can learn more. And when we spend more time listening than speaking, people want to tell us even more. The best compliment you can pay someone, ANYONE, is to be quiet and listen.

When was the last time someone truly listened to you? How did it make you feel? Worth, important, loved? When did you last truly listen to someone else? Not interject, not change the subject or prattle on, but keep your mouth shut and listen? Relationships, careers, children and even households miraculously change if we would just LISTEN to each other.

So your challenge today is to listen to someone, for no other reason than you can. Let them talk, don’t interrupt, don’t prepare your response to their sentence three sentences ago…just listen. You will be amazed at how your world will change when you shut your mouth, turn off your need to speak, and listen…it’s all right there when you listen.