Becoming A Better Human

I saw an interview recently in which someone was asked:

“What is the scariest animal?”

The person answering immediately responded with:

“Humans.”

I was struck by how insightful that answer was.

I might have immediately responded with “snakes”, which I sometimes have nightmares about, and which I never want to encounter in any way. 

But as scary as they are to me, I think that "humans" is actually the better and more sobering answer.

We humans are capable of causing so much destruction, so much violence, so much pain. We don’t even need to list all the ways in which we can and do cause profound heartbreak, infinite trauma, and everlasting distrust. We all can easily count the ways.

Someone To Tell It To wants to be an antidote to all the terrible ways humans can and do devise to harm and hurt one another. 

We believe at the core of our beings and values that learning to listen better can help to prevent and to heal our relationships from the harm and hurt that we have the ability to create.

So often, we humans create discord, distress, and division because we don’t listen well to one another  - and even to our own internal thoughts and feelings. We too often can presume and assume things that aren’t true. We too often only hear parts of what others say or ignore our own interior monologues. We too often project motives and scenarios on others and think the worst of them - and often ourselves - and fail to see what’s good or right about a circumstance. 

Intentional and engaged listening can change and enhance our perspectives. When we are committed to seeing the larger picture and to gain a more complete understanding about someone or our own feelings and motives, we will begin to be more patient, kind, gracious, positive, and  connected. 

As Fred (Mister) Rogers was so famously fond of declaring:

“It’s much easier to love someone when you know their story.”

It is absolutely true.

Through the tens of thousands of listening connections that Someone To Tell It To has had over the past nearly 15 years, we can absolutely attest to the fact that knowing the backstory of someone’s life, makes an immense difference in how we see them, perceive them, and relate to them. 

Knowing about someone’s experiences, origin, hopes and fears, joys and tears, changes the dynamics and enables us to see and feel much more about what they have seen and felt. It immerses us more deeply in their world and in their perspectives. And while we may not necessarily always agree with their opinions and their take on the world, their responses and reactions, we can begin to appreciate why they may believe or react the way they do. And in doing that, we are much more likely to appreciate and respect who they are and where their perspectives come from. It changes the dynamics and sheds light, which nearly always makes for better relationships. It diminishes the judgment, the criticism, and the animosity. 

It makes for better relationships.

If you want better relationships in your life professionally and personally.

if you want to be a better human.

if you want to not be a “scary human”, we have the answer for you. 

We have a new online easy and simple seven-day course for you:

Be a Better Leader (with the link here and graphic somewhere, too)

It will start you on a journey toward better listening and better relationships. And you will be a leader in helping to make this world a kinder, more empathetic, more attuned place to live and be.

Photo by Timon Studler on Unsplash