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Before the encroaching Coronavirus tide engulfs us all, there is some really cheerful news on the Listening front.

You know that we’ve been banging on about Listening and teaching its skills since the Nineties. You may also be aware we feel proud of the effect this has had in raising its crucial role in fostering understanding and bringing it to the top of many an agenda?

The hard work of leaving oneself behind and devoting one’s whole attention on the speaker, their words and delivery is something we recommend practising every day, like piano practice.

The dividends Listening yields far out-stretch the effort required. Not only are you gifting some-one their voice but in offering the kindness implicit to generosity of spirit, you grow as a human being. The symbiosis has an immediate effect of soothing situations, cooling heated encounters and creating space to ventilate thinking.

Well now, the gorgeous news is more important work is being done to reinforce the emphatic place Listening … or Deep Listening … has in poulticing perspectives. By offering acknowledgement and validation, those in dialogue receive the shattering relief – that doesn’t leave one in pieces – of being heard.

If you can, listen to Crossing Divides today or catch it on @bbc5live iplayer. Emotional intelligence needs folk like Emily Kasriel, a solutions-focussed journalist who has edited this series which seeks to bring peace between ears, sufficient to hear the pain.