The greatest gift (it's tough to find).

What is the greatest gift we can give our children, besides…what’s that one thing? Oh yeah. Love. Love, yeah, that’s cool too.

We pile them up with all types of entertainment, often with nifty educational labels or inferences attached, to assuage our fear that we’re not giving the one thing that is the hardest to give:

attention.

Which…is also the hardest thing these days to give other adults too.

The attention of eye contact.
The attention of listening.
The attention of asking questions and not giving answers for everything in a way that closes down conversation.

The gift of letting go of everything else for a few minutes here and there and simply focusing on what’s in front of you. Even when you got plenty, plenty to be thinking about.

And plenty else to be doing.

That is the gift we can give not our only our children,
not only each other,
but ourselves.

Look, and tell me why you think Rachel is one of my fave conversationalists of all time.

Being a good conversationalist is about a lot more, much much more, than having something interesting to say - though she has that as well.

It’s about being willing to gift your attention, your focus, and your heart to a few moments.