*Hands pressed to my ears* I Can't Heard You

I went to a holiday dinner this past Friday night for Rosh Hashanah- the Jewish New Year. Family friends hosted the dinner at their apartment in New York City and we were 18 people sitting around the table, eating and chatting.

Then, my host started voicing his opinions about politics...and other topics that we do not particularly agree on.

I listened for a while, and we held a short debate.

I finally realized that we weren't reaching any sort of agreement or even a mutual understanding.

But my host continued talking. Trying to convince other guests about his dominant beliefs. (While his wife was trying to convince him that he wasn't making sense...)

I automatically shut myself off. Sleep mode. I was looking out the window and then at the people around me, thinking about my plans for the next day--doing anything to avoid listening to the conversation and hearing it as merely a source of background noise. This time, however, I was completely aware of what I was doing.

I respect other people and their views and do enjoy intelligent discussions. But sometimes, when conversations come to a complete clash, I think it is best to withdraw yourself. Especially when talking about politics. At the Dinner table. With your host. Proceed with caution.

Learning about listening really does make you more aware to daily interactions, observing the elements of communication, and evaluating your own listening habits. At one point, I found myself smiling to myself, realizing that we really do only desirably listen to what we want to hear, what is compatible with our views, our beliefs, and our morals. We often tend to filter out the rest.