Listening is an art-form, not an option

 

It is funny the number of times you may be requested throughout your life to listen.   From something as simple as listening to instructions to perform an action, to more complicated where you are asked to listen to someone else regarding their feelings, it seems we are all asked to listen.  I think the hardest part of performing this action of listening is the time it may take to allow the other person to say what they need to say, and feeling like you are given the same respect in time given to you when talking.  

Listening is not something we are all able to do.  There are going to be people you encounter who simply do not know how to listen to another person.  They are too concerned about what they need to counteract with, too concerned how your thoughts are impacting them.  Too concerned with themselves to clearly listen to you.  They may be distracted, not really paying attention to the words you are saying.  They may be doing something else, and not focusing on what you are revealing to them.  And once this happens, it may not be possible to get your thoughts out.

This is where I feel I am right now...that struggle between having so much to say, 

and not knowing if I will be heard.

If I were able to talk, able to get it all out, that would be one thing.  But I also suffer from my mind and mouth not being on the same page, and therefore unable to verbalize what it is I am trying to say. It is a catch-22 no matter how I try to work on it.  The words of my mouth sometimes do not always convey what my heart and hand are able to spell out on paper, physical or virtual.  My heart, where my pain or joy resides; my heart, where my truest of intentions resides is sometimes afraid to vocally come out of the dark.  

So, in listening to others, to listen to what they are troubled by, excited by, or otherwise feeling is where I feel strength at times.  I listen to others, believe what they say, take them at their word, and remember their words for future reference.  It is also in listening you discover much about the other person...their own pain that may mirror your own, their joy that may be shared within your own heart, that essence of who they are, and what they are.  In their words, and the actions that may follow, you are able to develop a keen sense of who they are.  

Maya Angelou once was quoted as saying "When a person shows you who they are, believe them." If I am so busy focusing on my own thoughts, how am I able to listen to them.  And in my own fixation on my thoughts, how do I ever expect to hear what they are saying to discover who they are, both good or bad.  Listening is not an option, or something you do every once in a while.  Listening is an art form, that must be practiced on a daily basis, in every interaction and confrontation you may have.  In listening, you allow the other person to learn how to also listen to you, and to have your own voice heard.  That interaction and reaction does not come when you are focused on yourself, but rather when you take the time to focus on the other person.  It is a dual communication between both parties that allows for the greatest of resolution to occur.