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Blog: Go on a blind date with a listener
Tonight's challenge was about challenging my perceptions of another person. In the movie 'Shallow Hal' the lead actor will only go out with females who he perceives as "gorgeous". I wanted to go on a date with someone, blind folded for the whole time, so I could not judge them on how they looked and just be forced to use my ears to listen and get to know them as a person, regardless of what they looked like.
When Adie my date got into the car I honestly thought "Oh my God! What have The Rock got me into?!" - she didn't sound like the kind of person I would normally date. As the date progressed and I got to know her as a person my perceptions changed. What an amazing person. Perhaps not someone I would date, but someone who has really changed my perception on life. She was confident and outspoken. She had lots of great wisdom on how to live and when I got to know her as a person I found she has a warmth and charisma that made everyone around her laugh - trust me, I could hear them!
At the start of the evening I found I just wanted to talk about myself and as the night progressed she wouldn't let me. Because I felt really vulnerable from not being able to see, I found myself in the position I had gone into this thing in the first place to experience: listening. Not just hearing but really listening to someone and getting to know them.
I have realised from this experience that I can be quite self-centered and it's not always about me, my stories aren't always the most important. I feel really humbled and am sure this whole experience more than any of the other challenges has changed me for the better. I am going to listen more and talk less, let others go first and me last. I feel changed for the better.
I challenge you to talk to someone you don't normally talk to, get to know them as a person, listen to what they have to say. I definitely believe now that one of the secrets of life is to listen more and talk less.
Grant