05 Nov Before the Words
When the Swedish Academy reached Anne Carson with news of her Nobel Prize in Literature, she told them she was in Iceland, listening to the wind.
A woman being honored for her words, listening to something without them.
I like imagining her sitting there with her eyes closed, letting the sound of the wind hold her attention. Perhaps she was hearing something she had never noticed before.
When we listen to another person, we often find ourselves reaching for words almost as soon as theirs begin. We start turning a reply over in our minds, and a little of our attention follows it.
There is another way. We can offer the patient attention we imagine Carson giving the wind, letting another person’s way of seeing enter our own.
When someone gives us their full attention, they make room for us in their world.
There is a lovely possibility in being found that way.