Listening:

Scott Peck:

"By far the most common and important way in which we can exercise our attention is by listening."

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"Listenting well is an exercise of attention and by necessity hard work. It is because they do not realize this or because they are not willing to do the work that most people do not listen well."

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"For true listening, no matter how brief, requires tremendous effort. First of all, it requires total concentration. You cannot listen to anyone and do anything else at the same time."

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"An essential part of listenting is the discipline of bracketing, the temporary giving up or setting aside of one's own prejudices, frames of reference and desires so as to experience as far as possible the speaker's world from the inside, stepping inside his or her shoes."

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"Perhaps the primary requisite for a good psychiatrist is a capacity to truly listen."

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"attempting to be as consistently patient and bracketing as much as possible - all these are tasks that are often boring, frequently inconvinient and always energy-draining; they mean work."