I am guilty of active listening. I realize that I often interrupt people talking to me, either with questions wanting to know more details about what they are talking about, or to summarize what they said, so that they can know that I am really interested and paying attention to what they are saying. My intention is quite pure. What I realize is that instead of making them feel heard, more often than I would like, they feel interrupted instead and they lose their train of thoughts or feel simply frustrated not being able to continue their story. Even though I am focusing on them and am not simply interrupting wanting to talk about myself, even though I am simply adding on to their story, an interruption is an interruption.

Silence is my new way of listening. When I know for sure that it’s my turn to speak, then and only then, will I speak. Working on it!

Listen and Silent are spelled with the same letters.