Petit à petit, Yuan fait son nid.

Lesson 57 Be a good listener.

One day, Jose received a phone call. After talking for a long time, he sat silently in the sofa for a while and then he called me.

He said, “Yuan, you will see Mr. W in two days.”

I said, “Ok.”

Mr. W had been one of my regular patients for almost three years now.

Jose said, “Be more careful with him this time, because he is a little bit down now.”

I said, “Oh yes ?”

Jose said, “He was crying over the phone.”

I was quite surprised, “Oh really ?”

I never saw Mr. W crying, for me he has always been a nice and solid man.

Jose said, “He has many problems with his business now. And his dogs are ill, he has to go to the vet hospital three times a week. His dogs are very dear for him, like his children, so he is a little bit emotional today.”

I said, “Oh, I thought he had four dogs.”

“No.” Jose corrected me, “He has seven dogs now.”

I was astonished, “Oh yes ? Seven ? Since when ? “

In fact, Mr. W never talked with me about his personal things, all of those informations were given to me by Jose.

I met Mr. W many times, but honestly speaking, each time was like the first time, because we never talked much about private issues to each other.

I asked Jose, “What did you say to Mr. W ? Why is he willing to tell you so many personal things ?”

Jose smiled, “I didn’t talk; I listened.”

Hmmmmmm…

“Another thing.” Jose continued, “Yuan, you know why God gave us two ears but only one mouth ?”

“Why ?”

Jose said with a smile, “Because in interpersonal relationships, listening is more important than talking. “