"Listening is becoming a lost art - practice it." Nancy McFadden, Sr. VP Public Relations/PG&E Corp.
Have you ever been out at a restaurant or in a store where you've been witness to verbal exchanges that have not only caught your attention but started your brain to bump into high gear? Perhaps it's an endearing moment for a couple. Maybe it's an outburst directed toward a parent by a child. Maybe you overhear a caustic remark made between husband and wife and it causes you to bristle a bit -- or to feel compassion for the one on the receiving end of the comment. Perhaps you've been able to sit and watch AND LISTEN to children playing make-believe.
And, on a more personal level, when is the last time you really listened to what a family member or co-worker was saying? When was the last time you listened to yourself and thought about how your words might impact another person?
In today's fast paced world, the urge to push onward - rushing to get to the next point- has gotten in the way of real soulful listening for some. Manners and courtesy are no longer extended by some... either they've been forgotten or were never learned. Being an active, gentle, discerning listener is indeed an art... and in many instances it is fast becoming lost.
But, listening can provide the writer with a plethora of writing prompts. Next time you are at the grocery store, take a few extra moments in the produce or frozen food section. Casually browse your choices but do so with at least one ear tuned into the conversations around you. Last week, while searching for the perfect salad fixings in the produce section, I overheard an exchange between a man and woman (who I presumed were long time husband and wife). The words were caustic, accusatory, and downright disrespectful. I immediately felt uncomfortable. I felt the sharpness of that quick tongue and was catapulted to a time and place I'd tucked way back in my memory bank. A similar exchange (one of oh so many) between my father and mother when I was younger.
"How can anyone talk to another person that way? Especially someone they call family?" I thought.
But, later in the day, as I recalled the stinging exchange between these two strangers, I found myself recalling more and more verbal exchanges in my memory. Not all were angry or caustic. Some were the kind that bring a smile to the unsuspecting face. It amazed me that a few words not even intended for my ears set off a whole host of memories ripe for the picking. Suddenly, I was jotting down notes about "the time when Daddy said this or that to Mother" and "the way my brother explained his day at school - much to my delight at his boyish enthusiasm."
If you travel, you are in the perfect position to eavesdrop on all sorts of conversations (or snippets of them) that might just find their way into your writings -- either intentionally or quite by accident. Why not carry a small notebook where you can jot the key words or the circumstances of the encounter. Then, the next time you are stuck for a writing prompt, pull out your notes on "the things people say" and start ruminating on one or more of those you've happened upon recently. You might be surprised just how far a few words can take you on your memory path and journaling!
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