Listen Up!

While listening to NPR the other day, I heard this story (from March) in which Julian Treasure discusses the importance of listening. The part that really stuck with me was this:

"I often think that listening is the most generous gift you can give to another human being."

How true is that? Everyone just wants to feel like what they are saying is being heard and understood. In a world where distractions are prevalent, it can be hard to really focus in on what someone is saying. I think that as a society we've begun to value speaking up and sharing one's ideas more often (which is great!) but with that in mind, we sometimes forget to take our turn at listening.

Treasure also brings up the fact that we're so plagued by noise that it can make listening difficult and even exhausting. When was the last time you sat in complete silence? I find that it happens so rarely. I've actually gotten to the point where I don't find silence as relaxing as I used to. Especially when I'm alone, I like to have background noise (like the t.v., music, etc.) or I start to feel nervous and uncomfortable. I think silence is so uncommon that it often feels eerie. Treasure suggests several exercises for helping improve one's conscious listening, including spending at least 3 minutes a day in silence (or as close to silence as you can possibly get.) He also suggests breaking down what you're hearing at any given moment and focusing in on each individual sound (what it is, where it is, etc.)

I think as children were often reminded to listen (to teachers, parents, classmates, instructions, rules). Listening is presented as an essential skill and a big part of our development, especially in school! But as we grow older, we're not reminded of the importance of listening nearly as often.

All of this is to say: listen at least as often as you speak! 

Colors

For whatever reason, I've always been fascinated by colors. I find it so interesting that certain colors can make people think and feel different ways. They have so much influence on our lives without us even realizing it. I really enjoyed this recent NPR story about the colors of the rainbow (definitely go for the musical accompaniment- it really adds to the experience!). My favorite fact? Isaac Newton added indigo to Roy G. Biv in order to have the number of colors match the number of tones in the musical scale created by Descartes. 

This article from The Atlantic earlier in the year is another great read which focuses on the way colors affect our everyday lives. I've always thought it was such a strange social construct to have "boy colors" and "girl colors". As it turns out, pink has only been considered a "girl color" for less than a century! So we could stop associating certain colors with masculinity/femininity, right?

Blinding Noise

Photo of Volcan Pacaya in Guatemala (2010)

This completely blew my mind. Apparently the eruption of the Krakatoa volcano in 1883 was extremely loud. So loud, in fact that it could be heard 3000 miles away. When we think of how something that loud would effect humans, loss of hearing would probably be the first thing to come to mind. That's not the only thing that would have happened, though. The sound pressure alone would have rendered people (within 100 miles) unable to see or breathe. Absolutely unbelievable. Read more here. 

Parenting across the Globe

My sister and I (circa 1996).

I saw this fascinating NPR article the other day and had to share! It's about parenting techniques and traditions around the world and how they vary. I had previously read about babies in Denmark being left outside shops or restaurants in their strollers to nap but I hadn't heard about a few other things listed. Babies out of diapers at 9 months old? 4 year olds taking the subway alone? It's so interesting to read about what the norm is in other countries and what is considered safe, dangerous, good, bad, etc. I don't think I would've been able to find my way on the subway as a small child, but maybe if I had been taught how to ride it at a young age, I would've been able to figure it out. What do you think about all of this? I'm trying to decide what surprising or shocking parenting thing the U.S. would be known for. Maybe kids going to bed really early? Or children eating a lot of fast food? I'd be interested to hear people from other countries weigh in on this!

Baby Bird Imposters

I have no idea what kind of baby bird this was, but it was fluffy and cute. Also I've never seen the resemblance between dinosaurs and birds until now...look at that face!

This is just fascinating. My jaw dropped while reading the article. I'm not really surprised that animals have some sort of "names" for each other...but a family song? Mama birds teaching baby birds something before they hatch? Conniving birds of a different species? Nature is so intriguing.