Uhmmmm ? When my tendency is to shut out and shout out, I tell myself to shut down and open up. By that I mean shut down my mouth and open up my ears. During this interlude I reflect on what a Christian behavior would be. Often times the answer presents itself by the very person who is talking. Sounding out a situation brings a new perspective and insight.
I had an interesting conversation with friend who is a lady. She was expressing frustration with men not listening, or listening and wanting to fix things. I told her that with time I have learned to behave more like how a lady might listen, but also told her that this did not come naturally. It was a developed skill (to the extent I am skillful in it) but that everything I was attempting to do was going through filters that women in general do not have. The objective for both sexes is not to become like the other but to treat each other with respect and honor. Sharing with anyone is difficult for most people. Sharing with the opposite sex adds another level of difficulty. For this reason we need to give others a lot of slack.
Two guys can spend the whole day together and not share anything deep and walk away feeling real good about their relationship. When they try to share what they talked about with an interested woman, it all falls apart. No details available.
We need to listen and focus on who is speaking and what they are saying, not on ourselves and how what they say might affect us.
Uhmmmm ? When my tendency is to shut out and shout out, I tell myself to shut down and open up. By that I mean shut down my mouth and open up my ears. During this interlude I reflect on what a Christian behavior would be. Often times the answer presents itself by the very person who is talking. Sounding out a situation brings a new perspective and insight.
I had an interesting conversation with friend who is a lady. She was expressing frustration with men not listening, or listening and wanting to fix things. I told her that with time I have learned to behave more like how a lady might listen, but also told her that this did not come naturally. It was a developed skill (to the extent I am skillful in it) but that everything I was attempting to do was going through filters that women in general do not have. The objective for both sexes is not to become like the other but to treat each other with respect and honor. Sharing with anyone is difficult for most people. Sharing with the opposite sex adds another level of difficulty. For this reason we need to give others a lot of slack.
Two guys can spend the whole day together and not share anything deep and walk away feeling real good about their relationship. When they try to share what they talked about with an interested woman, it all falls apart. No details available.