If you ask yourself how you know someone cares for you, one of your responses is likely to be that you know because the person listens to you.
Ask a husband about a good wife, and he is likely to say that he knows his wife cares for him because she listens to what he has to say. Ask a wife about a good husband, and she’ll respond that he listens to her.
When the parent says, “It’s about time you started listening to me,” the youngster may be thinking, “It’s about time you started listening to me.”
Even if we are saying something that is not really worth listening to, we still want someone to listen to us.
Ask a person in a poor relationship why the person feels that way, and the person will say that the other person “doesn’t care about me.” Ask, “How do you know?” and more often then not the response will be, “He doesn’t listen to me.”
Caring and listening are prime sources of good relationships. They are so intertwined that if you experience one, you also experience the other.
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