The authors make important observations concerning the general functioning of an analyst. The analyst's attention is divided into listening to understand and listening to communicate. Other points the authors make are: a) the necessity for the analyst's being "human," meaning not stiff and rigid but relaxed enough to show parts of his or her personality; b) that the analyst not be disconcerted by his or her own inevitable "adventitious" and "inadvertent" idiosyncracies that occur during the process of analysis. These may in fact enhance the progress of analysis. At no time do the authors imply that they should be used as ploys or contrivances.