Listening is truly a rare artform. Do you listen? Or do you just wait for your turn to speak? Do you listen to my eyes? Read my wrinkles? Hear my tones? Feel my cadence? Study my beats? Are you listening? Or are you just waiting for your turn to speak?
It’s probably time to toggle off the automatic rebuttal. Put your phone down and pick your head up. Push aside your “self”. Quit putting mental energy into forming a response. Meet and greet with grace. Listen with compassion and intention at every encounter in between. Look into my eyes, don’t just read my lips.
Be an active listener. It is only when you listen that you hear the cries that call us to change the world. Because when you take the time to LISTEN, you will see that someone having that intense and vulnerable experience of being heard, looks just like love.
We are only human. We are hard-wired to care about ourselves and to serve ourselves. It does not make us bad people, but it does mean we could probably use a little fine-tuning. And maybe we could all use just a little bit more of that love.
So I ask you to take it with you and think about it. Are you truly listening or are you just waiting for your turn to speak?
Wallflower Writing 