Improv ideas for Life - Part 5

In my continuing series, here's hoping these improv mantras can positively influence your experience and help make life better. Today's topic is:

Just listen and react to what was said or done

This is actually a continuation of the Be in the moment concept. On stage, in meetings and in conversations, we tend to stop listening once we think we know what someone is going to say because we are convinced that we know or can fill in the whole story. We start thinking about our response – often at the risk of missing the actual point of what is being said. If you want to be a better communicator, stop assuming you know what is being communicated and start really listening to what is being said.

One great example of this is that in an improv scene, if an actor is planning ahead on what they're going to say or do, by the time the plan is finished being formulated and ready to execute, the scene has evolved to a point where the plan is no longer relevant.

Life is the same.

"We have two ears and one mouth so that we can listen twice as much as we speak." ~Epictetus
"The only valid censorship of ideas is the right of people not to listen." ~Tommy Smothers