Provocation

"Truly speaking,

it is not instruction, 

but provocation

that I can receive 

from another soul.

What he announces, 

I must find true in me,

or wholly reject."

-Ralph Waldo Emerson

Have you ever tried to hold a conversation with a person and had them completely dominate it? Feeling stuck in a vicious cycle of "nod and smile", all the while your brain is flashing neon signs bright and loud to get out! 

As a whole, we humans have forgotten how to successfully communicate...more specifically, how to listen. 

We all listen with the intent of responding. 

We listen carelessly while we build our own opinion in our mind. 

We listen without hearing because "we've heard enough" and are formulating ways to disprove them. 

We listen while only waiting and fixating on what response we have prepared. 

We listen with our own agenda. 

For a change, why don't we listen just to listen. To absorb the information. To accept the information. To respect that this is what that person truly believes. Then, we build on it! Don't waste time arguing and battling and debating who is more right. Instead, listen to them and use every word they say to transform your own thoughts. Listen with the intent to understand.

After all, every person you meet does, in fact, know something that you do not.