Each time I speak to a group in Spanish I ask Presidente afterwards what I said wrong. He always replies, "I didn't hear any mistakes." And then I ask one of the assistants who is from Mexico what were my mistakes and he says he doesn't know.
Obviously, I make all kinds of mistakes when I speak Spanish, but I have learned something from these responses that I think is good for all relationships. When I speak the listeners are concentrating so hard on what I'm trying to say, and they are trying so hard to understand me, they don't even pay attention to my mistakes. They are not listening to identify my mistakes, they are listening for understanding.
I think that is a beautiful lesson. In our relationships if we could listen for understanding instead of criticizing others, imagine how much more content we would be with our relationships. We wouldn't even notice the mistakes, and we would have far greater understanding!
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