You're Not Listening: What You're Missing and Why It Matters

by Kate Murphy

People describe me as the type of person who can talk to anyone, but it’s really that I can listen to anyone.

Listening is about the experience of being experienced.

Evolution gave us eyelids so we can close our eyes but no corresponding structure to close off our ears. It suggests listening is essential to our survival.

The most valuable lesson I’ve learned as a journalist is that everybody is interesting if you ask the right questions. If someone is dull or uninteresting, it’s on you.

in our primitive brains that whispers, “Keep doing what you’ve been doing because it hasn’t killed you yet.”

we only become secure in our convictions by allowing them to be challenged.

listening to opposing viewpoints is the only way to grow as an individual:

Being aware of someone’s troubles does not mean you need to fix them.

Listening is not just something you should do when someone else is talking; it’s also what you should do while you are talking.