Puzzles…. there are jigsaw puzzles, crossword puzzles, number puzzles, logic puzzles and the list goes on and on. Some people enjoy a nice challenging puzzle and other’s consider them frustrating or a waste of time. Whichever side of the debate you fall on, I think everyone would agree, that people can also be a puzzle.

Often, we think we can predict how people will react and we think we know exactly what the other person is thinking and saying. Watching people interact, I have discovered that people often say one thing but the listener actually hears something entirely different. By bringing our previous experiences to any interaction, we introduce bias in our relationships. Recently, I witnessed a situation, where by trying to protect each other, two people complicated everything. If each of them had just said what was on their mind without filtering by what they thought the other person wanted, they would have prevented a lot of confusion.

So even though I know that sometimes a filter is important, I am going to strive to listen and hear what people say to me. I will resist the tendency to form my answer before they finish talking. Hopefully it will make for a more enjoyable exchange.

Who knows, I might even solve a few puzzles along the way!