Some people who have read the book are coming back to me saying how insightful they found it; that it made them think about the ways in which they respond to life. I open my introduction to the book with these words: “Life is an assumption.” This statement reflects what is constantly brought home to me when I meet strangers or even people I purport to know. If I “feel” my way into the heart of what they are saying, rather than simply listen with my ears, I get far more of a sense of who they are. Language is a means of communicating agreed ideas, but the meaning behind words is far more revelatory. We learn to hide what we feel for all sorts of reasons. It becomes a modus operandi, a face we put on in public, revealing ourselves only to a chosen few. But if you listen carefully to the feeling behind what someone is saying, whether it’s a friend, shop assistant, stranger on the bus; politician etc, you are more likely to experience them from a deeper perspective, rather than simply “taking someone at their word.”
