The people that need to hear it aren't listening

I was at one of these intentional events where people make requests of each other and had to sit through a 30 minute speech about how to hear someone say no and not pressure them to say yes.

It was a painful feeling that reminded me of listening to teachers ramble about things that felt obvious when I was younger.

The facilitators went through all kinds of example scenarios of one person making a request, another person giving an unenthused response, and what to do about it as my mind screamed "duh!"

Finally, we were released and I went outside to catch my breath and relieve my mental pain when a friend followed me out and made a request.  I told him "not right now" and someone else goes "oh, c'mon. Do it!"  

The people that need to hear it aren't listening.

The creators of South Park have said that their episodes are often about taking an argument and making fun of BOTH sides.

You'd think that this would turn everyone into their enemy, but both sides end up feeling that the episode was taking their side while ignoring the feedback South Park as for their side of the argument.

The people that need to hear it aren't listening.

If this is a human thing, then I must have it, too, as I am human.

I tried this on.  I heard feedback and thought that the person is 100% wrong about me, but I didn't tell them they were wrong.  Not immediately.

I slept on it.  When I woke up, I had some 1% doubt they might have had a point.  My ego fueled me to prove them wrong and I used that fuel to fully apply their feedback and work on what they suggested to show they were wrong with results.

But they ended up being right. Every. Single. Time.

The people that need to hear it aren't listening, but if we really try, we can be the ones that listen.