We are reminded of the magic and the power of listening. The author mentions how healing it is for someone just to be listened to, and I have experienced that. People can solve their own problems when they get to talk to a sympathetic ear: the creative juices get to flow. Ms. Ueland relates that at a party, people tend to gravitate to her when she listens. It reminds me of a saying I've heard: "Have you ever noticed how much more interesting people become when they stop talking?"! The author touches on a particularly sensitive nerve for me when she describes the isolation and loneliness that a father can feel with his own grown children if he has spent little time listening and getting to know them (how else can you get to know someone without listening?) and more of his time giving advice or expounding on some subject. I am still in recovery from this one! She sums it up with "We should all know this: that listening, not talking, is the gifted and great role, and the imaginative role. And the true listener is much more beloved, magnetic than the talker, and he is more effective and learns more and does more good."