Waiting for Curiosity

This is not a reason to stop listening whenever someone disagrees with me. I may need clearer words, a more honest apology or more patience. But understanding also requires room for both people to reconsider their interpretation. When I keep changing my explanation only to secure agreement, I may no longer be clarifying what I mean. I may be moving away from it. Curiosity asks something of me too: to hear the other person's experience without demanding that it match my own. Sometimes another explanation helps. Sometimes the next useful step is a question, a change in behaviour or a pause.