Member-only story
What’s Important?
Simple ways to tend your relationships
You know when you’re talking to someone on the phone and you can tell they’re typing an email or scrolling social media? You can feel they’re not listening. I do it too. I wash the dishes and tidy the lounge while talking on the phone. Maybe they can sense I’m distracted too.
Do you belong to a family that interrupts all the time? I do. We’re always saying to each other — hang on, hang on, let me finish. Sometimes we’re listening and conversing, debating and having a conversation. Other times we’re jiggling and impatient waiting and then not waiting, and just talking over each other.
Listening is one of the nicest and easiest ways to nurture your relationships. It’s free. I jokingly made a ‘talking stick’ out of a blackberry branch. I think there is a market for it. My little girl made one too. Hers had a handle and her best friend’s name was scratched with a vegetable knife into the shaft.
Or you could set a timer. Each person has ten minutes.
