To be interesting- be interested

 To be interesting- be interested

I read this when I was in my teens. I liked the phrase and thought I was interesting because I could talk about movies with my friends, go shopping with my sister and help my mom in the kitchen. It’s only when I reached forty, I realized the true meaning of the phrase. People find us interesting when we take interest in them. What they have to say, to listen carefully, pay attention to them will go a long way to establish our credentials as an empathetic person. 

I just saw a short clip of TED talks of a lady who is a radio host. She gave a few tips on how to have a good conversation. First is to let them talk. Ask polite and open ended questions  and paraphrase. This shows you are actually listening to them. Another tip she gave was to have a conversation not to argue or prove a point. Now you can say how is this possible? An honest conversation can have different point of views. Yes, but do we have to win the argument every time? Can we see another perspective without prejudice? If we can, we will grow as a person. 

Don’t we all remember the person who listened to us in the party? We find them to be interesting because they were interested in us. So am I saying that we just listen and not talk at all? Absolutely not. We should converse not just talk. There is that thin line which we should try to avoid. I find that we learn more when we speak less. It’s difficult, specially for chatter boxes like me but it helps. Somehow I find I learn so much about latest technology while talking to youngsters. My nephew teaches me chat GPT and other tricks in my phone. 

We all want attention and care in our life and if we can give it to others, not only will they find us interesting, we will also gain in terms of friendship. 

So are you interested in others ? Do share.

Be interesting. 

So be it !!!