The Tao of Conversation

Easy conversations are easy. They just flow. We don’t need to prepare for them. Then there are those less easy. They’re puzzling to prepare for, which is why they’re less easy.

The way we listen shapes our experience in conversations and relationships. Literally and metaphorically, we listen our relationships into existence. The quality of our conversations and relationships is equal to the quality of our listening.

We listen to each other from interest and judgment. Interest is wanting to know more about what the other says than we already know. Judgment is…