It is easy in the world to live after the world’s opinion; it is easy in solitude to live after our own; but the great man is he who in the midst of the crowd keeps with perfect sweetness the independence of solitude. – Ralph Waldo Emerson, Self-Reliance
The world is powered by passionate people, powerful ideas, and fearless action. What’s one strong belief you possess that isn’t shared by your closest friends or family? What inspires this belief, and what have you done to actively live it?
(Author: Buster Benson)
Everyone has a story or something to say and they deserve to be listened to. They should be listened to with encouragement and compassion, not with judgement or prejudice. This is my strong belief and I believe it is shared by my friends and family, even if we don’t always practice it.
I try to live this every day, but I am not always completely successful. At times my listening is overtaken by my own thoughts and words which then overshadow and drown out the other person’s story.
I am inspired in this by the many, many, many…possibly thousands of people that I have met in my short 35 year stint on Earth. Each interaction I have with another, no matter how small or how brief, is unique. Something positive can be brought away on both sides to be shared through more connections with others.
Even if an interaction seems negative there is a positive aspect in there. At the risk of being cliche; there is always a diamond in the rough. It is a matter of perspective.
In my daily actions I try to listen to what other people are saying. It sounds obvious and simple but it isn’t. We are always listening with our own ideas of what we think the other person is really saying, or what their motives are, or what we’re going to have for lunch, or if I’m going win the lottery, etc.
Well, I don’t do that you say.
B.S. We all do.
The key is to just listen and let all those other thoughts fall away. They will fight to be heard but don’t fall for it. Don’t actively push the thoughts down in you’re mind either, as that takes just as much attention away as focusing on them.
Just let them go.
Then look deeply and compassionately listen.
Listen with your mind and listen with your heart.
Listen like you wish to be listened to.
Listen like it is they are the only thing that matters.
Just listen.
