Listen more, talk less...

about this goal is once I listened to people I began to hear all the crap that people really said. My listening skills have improved drastically since I’ve added this goal to my list. The result is there are a whole lot of people who are saying a whole lot of nothing,or so stuck on their story they are not hearing the rest of the world. Although this is a very zen like goal to have, it’s scary and quite dangerous to really listen to alot of the population. The goal has evolved to listen and walk away when I need to. Or Listen and run. One thing is true. People really tell you all about themselves in the first 3 minutes if you are brave enough to really listen. I wish more people would listen to themselves. That would make this goal alot easier. All the same I am marking this goal as done.

how to listen to people rant and rave w/o taking it personally. I can be the objective observer. A major step for me. I can see where other people might find it annoying. Especially since most of the time rants are used as tools to get your goat. The next step is not to lol when I realize how silly people look when they’re losing it. It’s sad that my distorted sense of humor will often pop up at the most inapropriate times.

I have given myself a challenge. That is to listen completely for 5 minutes without forming an opinion or finding a solution or thinking about something else all together. I have been doing it periodically now I want to make it a conscious part of who I am for the upcoming week. This is my assignment to myself.

I was never really taught to listen, at least not in school. I was shown how to wait my turn and process what I was going to say when it came. This makes for terrible relationships. I was also to judge and catagorize people in the process of waiting. This narrowed my perception. Although I thought I was a good listener in the past, I now know that I was narrowing my possiblities by not opening up my mind and my heart to the opportunity to welcome in another person. It takes courage to really listen to someone in the true sense of the word. Even more than that it takes understanding. In my efforts to improve my listening skills I must remain present. It is impossible to enhance my listening skills without utilizing my intuition. The are inseperable. When I am slighting one, I am definitely slighting the other.

I have just begin to read “The Lost Art of Listening”, and I am already stunned. Many of the circumstances in the book hit to close to home for me. This has been my year of clarity. I often asked through prayer for the fog to be lifted from my life. It’s awesome how this process continues to unfold with every single piece of literature I pick up. I mean, goodness, there are no breaks. I am sure I will learn much from this book once I get over the shock of it all.