MountainMornings

So this is what happens when I go to a blogging symposium and actually listen to the speakers. I start a New Blog! Big thanks to Denise Stewart for her fun and outstanding opening and to Marijean Jaggers who has almost convinced me to start Twittering, almost.

I’m reading a new book at the recommendation of my BFF from MA, Lee. The Zen of Listening ‘Mindful Communication in the Age of Distraction’ by Rebecca Shafir is a smart and important read. She advises us to forget about our own personal self-interests and past insults, and step into the story, or “movie,” of the speaker’s life. She quotes Gandhi, “Three fourths of the miseries and misunderstandings of the world will disappear if we step in the shoes of our adversaries and understand their viewpoint.” Think about it, how often are you talking with someone only to notice their attention drift off – to their buzzing phone or the next person coming in the door – and wonder if it’s them or something you said, or maybe didn’t say fast enough?

Last week, I attended a hospital-sponsored lecture on patient safety. The speaker, Sorrel, is the mother of an 18 month old girl named Josie King who was admitted to Hopkins in 2001. The baby was treated for burns and moved from the PICU to a step-down unit and within 24 hours of being released when she suddenly died. Well, actually Sorrel had told two nurses that last day she thought Josie “…looked strange.” And she was dismissed by these nurses and told “…not to worry,” her vitals were just fine and to give her ice chips. Then when one doctor canceled an order for a drug, another walked in to give Josie the shot.

98,000 people die every year due to medical errors, and the one common thread that runs through their stories is, “They didn’t listen.” I was moved by Sorrel King and her foundation: http://www.josieking.org/

I asked my friend Lee, what do you do with someone who never stops talking long enough to listen? She said, “That’s another chapter.”