AOK Today #20 - Listen

AOK Today: Reach out. Take some time to get to know someone you care about.

"Regret is a universal experience. The only people who don't have regrets are five-year-olds...and sociopaths" - Daniel Pink

How It Works: Make time to listen to and/or reconnect with a friend, partner, parent, grandparent, sibling, colleague, schoolmate. In Daniel Pink's book, The Power of Regret, he identifies four core regret categories - one of which is connection regrets. He explains "these regrets arise anytime we neglect the people who help establish our sense of wholeness - When those relationships fray, disappear, or never develop, we feel an abiding loss." Pair this with Kate Murphy's take on the diminishing experience of listening, and you can see the problem. She says, "In modern life we are encouraged to listen to our hearts, listen to our guts, listen to our inner voices but we’re rarely encouraged to listen carefully with intent to others. Being listened to is "the experience of being experienced. It’s when someone takes an interest in who you are and what you are doing... People in long term relationships tend to lose their curiosity for each other. They become convinced they know each other better than they do... No one is the same as yesterday, nor will today’s self be identical to tomorrow’s. It doesn’t matter how long you have known or how well you think you know a person; if you stop listening, you will eventually lose grasp of who they are and how to relate to them." So choose someone to listen to and save yourself from saying, "If only I'd reached out" or "I regret not having that relationship in my life." Help them feel seen and cared for. Storyworth is a tool worth checking out.

Cost: Free!!

Why I love it: “You can make more friends in two months by becoming interested in other people than you can in two years by trying to get other people interested in you.” - Kate Murphy. It's so powerful to listen, and such a privilege.

Happy Giving |XOX|