Sunday, Feb. 7, 2021
Today’s Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation is:
To listen is to hear with one’s heart
Keeping silent while a friend is talking should not be confused with listening. Dialogue can fill our minds even when friends are sharing the most intimate details of their lives. Why is it so difficult to listen?
Our listening impairment probably began in childhood. We feared we didn’t measure up, so we were constantly obsessed with what other people thought of us. Worry became a way of life, and we seldom distinguished between the trivial and the important. We learned to keep our minds trapped in thought.
Listening with our heart is a new skill. When we try it, we’ll first be touched by the emotion contained in the message being shared. Then our own worry thoughts will recede. Letting another’s pain or joy reach our hearts will enrich us. We will come to understand that paying loving attention to someone’s story will offer us answers we didn’t even know we needed.
It’s not coincidental if a friend comes to me in need today. I’ll receive the guidance I need through what is shared.
Hazelden Foundation
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