If you spend enough nights on the floor listening to people order martinis, explain natural wine to dates, or negotiate status through reservation choices, you start to realize restaurants are basically focus groups for contemporary aspiration.
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Insurance forms that make no sense. Subscriptions that can't be cancelled. A never-ending blizzard of automated notifications.
Freakonomics Radio
Most of us think about what we say to others. We think about whether our words might hurt or please them, whether we're saying the right things at the right time. But we rarely think about how we listen. We assume we're doing it fine, or well enough. Yet listening is one of the most powerful things we can do for another person.
Hidden Brain
I don't think that we have a lot of opportunities or enough opportunities to feel meaningfully seen. I can't really blame anybody for saying, 'Oh, this song moves me. This song makes me feel seen.' when we're in a media climate where we don't really have as many opportunities as I would like for us to feel meaningfully seen.
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