Dooley Noted: 8/13/2014
According to most studies, we are largely visual learners.
This always disconcerted me as a student, doctor and a teacher.
What we see is what we believe. But what we hear may be harder to understand.
This became very true in the last few days, when one of my favorite comedians took his own life.
All the photos showed a smiling, beaming Robin Williams. But he was so desperately sad that he ended everything.
What we saw was not the whole truth.
This catalyzed thoughts of the numbers of people I see daily who appear to be happy.
My concern for them may change if I looked less and listened more.
For we visual learners, we must train ourselves to listen hard and pay attention to more than what we see.
Maybe a spouse looks content but needs your ear to hear about problems.
Maybe a friend looks to be joyful but drops hints about sadness she’s enduring.
Maybe we can listen for the cues and do our part to hear past what we see.
As always, it’s your call.
– Dr. Kathy Dooley