Reading yesterday’s The Times newspaper (actually it was the glossy magazine that comes with the newspaper on Saturday and never has anything worth reading in it…) I was taken by the following quote from author Rose Tremain:
“On Tube journeys I try to imagine the thoughts of the people I feel most afraid of. After four or five stops they morph into ordinary citizens. I’d encourage people to play this kind of empathy game as often as possible.”
It was part of a short interview in which she talks about the need to listen to everybody, however young or old, because listening to people is the best way to have interesting questions to ask. She also describes how as she has grown older she has stopped asking herself “What makes me happy?” and started asking herself “What gives my life meaning instead?”. The result is that she has become far happier. Simple, but profound…
Tim O'Hare 