Try interactive listening

Try interactive listening

The principle of using interactivity as a creativity-builder is not
restricted to computer games or chat rooms. Once we become fully
conscious of this principle, we can find ways to become more
interactive everywhere. We can even make conversations with our
family and friends more interactive than they once were.
We all have certain business associates or family members that we think
of as we do television sets. As they speak to us, we have a feeling that
we already know what they're going to say. This lowers our own
consciousness level, and a form of mental laziness sets in.
Whereas in the past we might have just passively suffered through other
people's monologues, we can now begin introducing more interactivity.
In the past we might have punctuated our sleepy listening with
meaningless words and phrases, such as "exactly" and "there you go,"
but we weren't truly listening. But that passive approach shortchanges
ourselves and the people we are listening to.
"When we are listened to," wrote Brenda Ueland, "it creates us, makes
us unfold and expand. Ideas actually begin to grow within us and come
to life."

The more thoughtful our questions get to be, the more interactive the
conversations. Look for opportunities for interactivity to motivate
yourself to higher levels of experience.

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