‘Tis the holiday season and a great many people face the same annual conundrum: WTF do I get them?!!!! Others just KNOW what to get so-and-so and still others are going to get them what they have always gotten them. Some people are hard to shop for, others are amazingly easy, and still others are easy if they would #@$(*&#$^# stop buying things for themselves during the holidays. *harumph*
One of the things that stands out at the holiday season, if anything can in all the roar of doingness, is whether or not the gift hits the mark. Some people think that gift giving is a skill like archery or timing it so you get through all the lights on the street while they are still green. To some extent it is, but it’s not gifted to a select few who rise above the rabble to excel in this competitive giving season. It’s one that we all have, that we can employ, and can hone with practice. The key is to listen.
Yup. Just that. How do some people just know what to get someone else? Listening to that someone else as they’ve been talking and doing and being. Noting when they like something, when they don’t, when they want something but can’t get something for themselves that they would dearly like to have, when they are interested in a subject or activity or place, when they go to do things over and over again even though they aren’t equipped and make do – ESPECIALLY when they aren’t equipped and make do.
Listening to the person, talking with them, paying attention to them, provides a rich source of ideas for what they will like and what you can give. It’s like being handed gift ideas for free. Of course, there’s also their Amazon Wish List. It’s the electronic version of the Sear’s catalog lying around the house. 😉