Calendar quotes

I have a 7 Habits calendar. I know, how new-age. This comprises a series of 3 days.

To relate effectively with a wife, a husband, children, friends, or working associates, we must learn to listen. And this requires emotional strength.

Listening involves patience, openness, and the desire to understand — highly developed qualities of character. It's so much easier to operate from a low emotional level and to give high-level advice.

Our level of development is fairly obvious with tennis or piano playing, where it is impossible to pretend. But it is not so obvious in the areas of character and emotional development.

-o-

The last reminds me of Unskilled and Unaware of It (PDF) from the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology:

We argue that when people are incompetent in the strategies they adopt to achieve success and satisfaction, they suffer a dual burden: Not only do they reach erroneous conclusions and make unfortunate choices, but their incompetence robs them of the ability to realize it.

The more you know, the more you know what you don't know. That still may not give you the fortitude to listen when you're being told something you don't want to know. But it might help.