Giving someone your full attention

Most of us know the feeling of talking to someone who is half listening. They nod in the right places, but their eyes keep drifting to their phone or the door, and you end up cutting your story short.

Giving someone your full attention is one of the simplest kind things you can do. It costs nothing except a few minutes, and the other person notices straight away.

This sits close to what Freemasons call brotherly love: treating other people with patience and real interest, whoever they are.

It can be as ordinary as putting your phone face down when a friend sits across from you at a café. Or turning away from the laptop when your teenager wanders into the kitchen and starts talking about their day.

You don't need to have the right answer. Most of the time people just want to know that someone heard them. If you're not sure what to say, asking 'what happened next?' keeps the conversation going and shows you're interested.

You will often find you enjoy the conversation more, too. When you stop dividing your attention, you notice things you would otherwise have missed.

You can read more about the principle behind this in The Masonic Way.