Dear TSJ Peeps,
Happy Wednesday! We hope you are ready to take a moment and reflect on the gift of listening.
Mr. Wisdom Whisperer (aka Solomon) is choosing to whisper today. So you may have to silence your phone to hear him. (He knows you are familiar with having to silence your phones before important meetings).
So why are we asked to turn the sound off on our phones?
I know. It is quite obvious. . . so we are able to listen. When it rings or even when it vibrates, our attention is quickly averted and sometimes causes us to miss important information or disrupt others’ freedom to listen.
I have been thinking a lot about why it is important to learn to listen. And I experience great difficulty with it. Do you too?
It seems as a culture we are immersing ourselves in noise. Perhaps we are even actively refusing the gift of listening for fear of what we may hear. We may be worried about things close to our hearts and minds.
I wonder how to improve my ability to listen deeply and patiently.
For help I have been re-reading books (especially Eckart Tolle’s The Power of Now) reminding me of how critically important it is to practice mindfulness (being fully present in the moment) and spending time in silence.
I suddenly remembered some words from from Simon and Garfunkle’s song: The Sound of Silence.
How easily we get distracted ~ especially by our devices. Yes, perhaps we even “bow… to the neon gods we’ve made.“ We turn to them very quickly to surf for our inspiration and entertainment, distraction and connection.
Our minds are noisy and our spirits are restless. Have you listened to your own thoughts for a few minutes? What do you notice?
And do we really listen to others? In what ways do we “talk without speaking and hear without listening?“ Do we miss learning of things that really matter — such as each other’s stories and dreams and heartaches?
That is why today Solomon reminds us to silence our phones (but mostly our minds) and then ~ “prepare for impact!”
The impact could mean inner peace and harmony.
Listening is a gift we can give the world. We would actually speak more carefully and hear more accurately.
The best place to start is with yourself and your family.
It is hard. I am working on it!
Just for fun . . . remember the word SILENT has the same letters as LISTEN!
With love to all TSJ readers,
Margie
