Source http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/tinybuddha/~3/3kyQl8ptRCg/
“The most basic of all human needs is the need to understand and be understood. The best way to understand people is to listen to them.” ~Ralph G. Nichols
My partner and I were in our first few months of a long-distance relationship. This was a new stage for us and it meant altering our communication practices. Instead of sharing meals and museum exhibits, we had weekly emails and Skype chats.
Every week, I would pour my heart into long, detailed emails to him. I would describe everything that I had done and thought over the past few days.
On Skype I would do the same. Excited to tell him about my life, I would recount all of my recent experiences.
On one such Skype call, my partner paused the conversation with a long and frustrated silence.
“What?” I asked.
He said, “You just told me all about you, but you didn’t respond to anything I said.”
His reaction surprised me. Weren’t we taking turns talking about our lives? Wasn’t that how a long-distance call was supposed to go?
Around the same time, I received a letter from a friend who lived across the country. We had been writing to each other for several years. I had recently sent her a letter telling her about my new job a…
Source http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/tinybuddha/~3/3kyQl8ptRCg/
“The most basic of all human needs is the need to understand and be understood. The best way to understand people is to listen to them.” ~Ralph G. Nichols
My partner and I were in our first few months of a long-distance relationship. This was a new stage for us and it meant altering our communication practices. Instead of sharing meals and museum exhibits, we had weekly emails and Skype chats.
Every week, I would pour my heart into long, detailed emails to him. I would describe everything that I had done and thought over the past few days.
On Skype I would do the same. Excited to tell him about my life, I would recount all of my recent experiences.
On one such Skype call, my partner paused the conversation with a long and frustrated silence.
“What?” I asked.
He said, “You just told me all about you, but you didn’t respond to anything I said.”
His reaction surprised me. Weren’t we taking turns talking about our lives? Wasn’t that how a long-distance call was supposed to go?
Around the same time, I received a letter from a friend who lived across the country. We had been writing to each other for several years. I had recently sent her a letter telling her about my new job a…
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