Listen

Yesterday, I talked about a post I read on Facebook:  "Women don't need to be rescued; they just need someone to listen to them."  My post was about rescue.  Today I want to look at the other half of the post - listening.

I've written before about listening (you can find my posts at this link.

Listening is a form of love.  It's not just women who need listeners; everyone needs the attentiveness of a listener.

Haven't you been sitting in a conversation, supposedly listening to someone who was talking to you, and found yourself drifting in and out of the conversation?  I've done that.  And I've been the one talking to a mind drifter, too.  Listening, really listening, is difficult, because it requires us to place the person in front of us ahead of our own thoughts and priorities.  When we don't listen, we make the person in front of us invisible in a way.  When we listen, really listen, without hearing through our own needs and suppositions, we see the person who is speaking.

Listening is a form of love because it affirms the sacred worth of the person who is speaking.  I disagree with the poster - it's not women who need someone to listen to them, it's everyone.

Go, today, and listen more than you talk.  Listen more than you think.  Just listen.  And I'll try to do the same.