Be Silent and Listen

Just a short post today- I am taking a quick break from holiday preparations- in my case, Passover, which starts tonight.
I was at a mandatory training program at work on Thursday.  It was on 'Nonviolent Crisis Intervention', an important issue when working on inpatient psych wards.  When a patient is in crisis, we want to prevent them and us from getting hurt.  I am not going to go into details of the training, but there was one point that I want to share.
The letters in the word 'listen' are the same letters in the word 'silent'.  So often when we have conversations with other people, we are busy thinking about what we want to say when they pause, or what else we need to be doing, or how cute that guy (or gal) over there is.  Next time you are in a conversation, be silent.  Not just your mouth, but also your mind.  Really listen to the other person. Not just with your ears, but also with your eyes and your heart.