One of the great joys of my life – that of teaching people to be thinking partners – is an expression, I feel, of this quote from Barbara Bush. I think the act of being someone else’s thinking partner is that of setting my needs aside for the duration of my time with the person to whom I am listening. For that time, my attention rests on the world of their needs, hopes, dreams, expectations, concerns. And even though I often feel I understand them, that is not the point. The point is that I am interested. And that they get to move in the direction of their own self-understanding.
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