Arval Parrot points to the glowing light in his throat - the energy centre for communication. The tips of his fingers and eyebrows also glow indicating the importance of non-verbal communication. He urges us to 'listen' to body language as well as incomplete sentences and unfinished thoughts and try to discover the meaning of these signals. When we see or hear someone struggling to express something it is easy to 'helpfully' complete the sentence for them. True listening is different. In coaching conversations we pause and wait for the other person to finish or we repeat and reflect back to check that we have understood correctly. We watch for non-verbal cues that tell us our partner in dialogue is thinking. In these moments as half thought thoughts tumble forth there may be magic.
The world is full of magic things, patiently waiting for our senses to grow sharper.
W. B. Yeats, 1865-1939
I agree. We communicate so much more between our words and sentences. Perhaps that's why writing is so difficult...
ReplyDeleteThe impatient side of me often wants to "help" people along - I can surely relate to that. But it is interesting that most of what I've attempted to "fill in" for people was completely off base. So basically my help was no help at all!
ReplyDeleteI too am guilty of finishing sentences for others. Not allowing them to fully express themselves. I am still a work in progress on that front. Something for me to think about today while interacting with others.
ReplyDeleteyour first paragraph should be where bibles are kept. Instead of bibles ;)
ReplyDeleteThat sounds interesting but I'm not sure what it means???
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