We are bombarded with messages, bombarded by people who want to tell us something: advertisers telling us what we should desire and buy, parents or friends telling us how to get our acts together, employers expressing expectations and issuing orders, social media “pings,” teachers and/or preachers pouring “content” into our heads, not to mention all our “inner voices” that constantly correct and question us, signals form our hormones, unexpressed emotions: we get told a whole bunch, every single day!

It’s not all bad.  I’m sure you can think of times when someone told you something, and you are grateful that they did.

But so many of us are desperate, not to be told something, but to be asked, and to be truly and deeply listened to.  Thoughtful, open-ended questions (i.e., not simply Yes/No or one-word-answer questions) and attentive listening take time.  Particularly …