“We Are Losing Our Listening” – Julian Treasure

 

“We are losing our listening. We spend roughly 60% of our communication time listening, but we’re not very good at it. We retain just 25% of what we hear. Now, not you, not this talk, but that is generally true. Let’s define listening as ‘making meaning from sound.’ It’s a mental process, and it’s a process of extraction.“

Julian Treasure

“Five Ways to Listen Better“

TED talk

 

What a powerful opportunity we have to really listen to someone. It gives them our full attention and our devotion. In a way, it’s a potent way to love someone.  That person can be your husband, your friend, the doctor, the postmaster, the intern or the CEO at work.

I agree we should be mentally alert and strive to extract as much information as we can. At the same time, a compassionate, sincere listening will do wonders for your speaker’s soul, and your own.  It’s about honoring one another, which includes their heart, their ideas.

 

Julian Treasure studies sound, and advises businesses on how best to use it.  He is the chair of the Sound Agency. He asks us to pay attention to the sounds that surround us. How do they make us feel: productive, stressed, energized, acquisitive?  Treasure is the author of the book Sound Business and keeps a blog by the same name that ruminates on aural matters. In the early 1980s, Treasure was the drummer for the Fall-influenced band Transmitters.

Bio Source: TED.com

The Classic Pamela Positive: Make Criticism Yield to You

“Against criticism a man can neither protest nor defend himself; he must act in spite of it, and then it will gradually yield to him.”  –Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

No matter how hard it is, we have to face challenging feedback and take some step of action. It’s not easy… but the more we do it, the more we become accustomed to it.   To being honest with ourselves…and to overcoming the challenge.  We grow, we excel, and we move on, up and over it.   With that honesty, as Goethe states, the criticism “will gradually yield to him.”

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832) was a German poet, playwright, novelist, and natural philosopher, best known for his two-part poetic drama Faust, which he started around the age of twenty-three and didn’t finish till shortly before his death sixty years later. He is considered one of the greatest contributors of the German Romantic period. At the age of sixteen, in 1765, Goethe went to Leipzig University to study law as his father wished, though he also gained much recognition from the Rococo poems and lyric he wrote during this period. In 1766 he fell in love with Anne Catharina Schoenkopf (1746-1810) and wrote his joyfully exuberant collection of poems Annette.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe now rests in the Fürstengruft or “Royal Tomb” in the “Historic Cemetery” in Wiemar where his dear friend Schiller is also laid to rest. In honour of these two famous German men of letters, a statue of Goethe and Schiller now stands at the German National Theatre in Munich. UNESCO’S “Memory of the World” list includes the handwritten works of Goethe preserved by the Goethe-Schiller-Archive.

Bio Source: The Literature Network

The Classic Pamela Positive: Communicate With More Than Words

It is so amazing to me that when we communicate, the words really ‘come in third place.’

First, it’s tone.  Tone communicates the most for us. If we are kind, inclusive, loving, we have opened up a wealth of goodness, opportunity and long-term relationships.  That’s enriching, positive communications.

If you say “you look so nice!” – that can be lovely or sarcastic. It can be kind, gentle, or demeaning and contradictory.  So calm, proactive, inclusive, “slow” conversations, or enthusiastic, proactive and loving statements, can help provide dynamic change.

Your tone is what opens up the conversation and action for change.   JENNA THIS SHOULD BE LARGER PULLED OUT, QUOTE IN COLOR

Second, it’s is body language.   If you say something with gusto but your shoulders are caved in, you are contradicting yourself.  How you carry yourself, walk, speak — and especially the intent of your eyes, communicates profoundly. Be strong but humble with your body. Honest and clear, but fluid in your movements.  Find that special balance of strength and openness in how you present yourself, your postures and even the way you move.

Third, it’s words.  Words are the least communicative.  You can reinforce by thousands of percents the words in a positive way or negative depending on how you say it.

****  center this

How we communicate and the tone we choose, each moment, can create a more loving, trusting world. Realize how much you can impact the world today, by this simple but important commitment.

Love, Pamela

The Classic Pamela Positive: “Be Prepared to Fall in Love All Over Again Every Day.”- Michael J. Fox

“Be prepared to fall in love all over again every day.”- Michael J. Fox

This is true for every relationship. Whether it is your husband, partner, friend, calling in life, your labrador, or the beautiful sun we greet each day, be prepared… to fall in love again.

Appreciating all we have is the most wonderful, nurturing gift we can wrap for ourselves, others and the world.  It envelops everything in the giftwrap of love.

Michael J. Fox is an actor and activist.  He has appeared in iconic roles including Marty McFly in Back to the Future and Alex P. Keaton in the TV show Family Ties.  He was diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease in 1991, revealing his condition publicly in 1998.  Since then he has been a powerful activist promoting research for a cure.  He has been married to actress Tracy Pollan since 1988, and they have four children.  Fox is also the author of three books, including the memoir, Always Looking Up: The Adventures of an Incurable Optimist.

The Classic Pamela Positive: Build Trust–For Peace

World Peace is a hard word.  We all want it. But how can you create “World Peace” ?

What we can do is build World Trust.  We commit to developing long-term relationships based on trust.  If we focus on World Trust, then World Peace can result.  Peace is based on Trust.

Read further on our page, Building World Trust.