New--After 3 years of silence

Today leaving school, I was thinking about how I would enjoy being friends with someone blind or someone deaf. I know that may be offensive to some people because it sounds like I would want to be his/her friend solely based on how they were different from me.

But it is because I am fascinated with learning how other people perceive the world. However, as soon as I realized that is the reason I would want to be friends with them, it dawned on me that EVERYONE sees the world differently. He sees the ocean differently than I do. She tastes something different when she eats that salsa. Every person has a different perspective, with a different background. When I studied abroad and stayed in different countries with my friends who were natives of the culture, I loved it because I got to be immersed in the culture and learn so much about it. I would love to learn how Claude Monet saw the world and how he translated that onto his canvases. But I cannot do that.

Yet I have the amazing opportunity to learn from all the people around me, how they view the world and why they respond the way they do. If I want to understand they people around me and if I want to be able to see the world through their eyes (which would be FASCINATING), then I need to learn to really listen and ask better questions. Firstly, I need to learn to listen better. Over time, I have lost the skill of listening well (if I ever really possessed it).

Any suggestions on how to listen better? (Aside from: Shut up...)