Why is it so hard to hear and feel another person’s meaning when you are in difficult conversations? Even though you may love the other person, when they speak about something that “makes you angry,” you may find it’s impossible to hear anything except your own thoughts. When we feel emotionally threatened, we protect ourselves and promote our own points. This is universal. Everyone closes their ears to anything except their own thoughts when they feel insulted or emotionally threatened. The second rule of Real Dialogue is called “Listening Mindfully.” It teaches us how to open our ears and our minds during emotional pain or animosity in order not to not to create an enemy even before we hear what is being said.
Polly and Jill continue their conversation with psychoanalyst Robert Caper (expert on projective identification) about the emotional kidnapping and confusion that occur in unconscious...
Human emotions are complex and widely called “feelings” when much of what we call our “feelings” are actually our opinions, our preferences, our ideals,...
At this crucial juncture when we are beginning to contemplate our return to “life outside,” when the lock-down is over, we especially need to...
