At the elder home, it was pretty easy to listen. I was also there just an hour. And it was one to one conversation with one of the residents, and you could tell he had something he needed to say, to someone, anyone. I was also there just an hour, my threshold time.

At the group home, it was even easier to listen. Most of the time. When I was playing ping pong, most of my focus went to that, so I wasn’t really able to watch the other’s reactions, nor able to pay full attention to what they were saying. My retention rate for things said during that much lower than the one-to-one afterwards. There weren’t really distractions, nor were there any restraints on time for most of it. I was actively engaged, and I think that makes a difference- it was an actual conversation.

Also, paying more attention to how I deal with conflicts, and even more so, how others deal with conflicts.