Creating a Sanctuary
Today I am grateful for my job and some good self-care last evening. I am also grateful for the soothing sound of our outdoor fountain.
My hearing can be muffled, as I wrote about in a post last week, but listening is serious and blessed business. If someone entrusts me with their thoughts and feelings, the least I can do is give them my full attention. The most I can do is give them my full attention.
The following quote was recently gratefulness.org's "Word of the Day":
With the pace of our society today, with the prominence of technology in our daily lives, I fear that listening is becoming a lost art. That really concerns me. Relationships of any kind don't work without good listening. A text, a tweet, or other digital connection can never fully replace the face-to-face human connections that come with genuine listening.
Today I will try to be the kind of listener who creates a sanctuary for others. Pausing in gratitude is a good start because I am listening with my heart and soul.
My hearing can be muffled, as I wrote about in a post last week, but listening is serious and blessed business. If someone entrusts me with their thoughts and feelings, the least I can do is give them my full attention. The most I can do is give them my full attention.
The following quote was recently gratefulness.org's "Word of the Day":
"Our listening creates a sanctuary for the homeless parts within another person."
(Rachel Naomi Remen)
Those are profoundly beautiful words and ones I had not heard before. What came to my mind as I considered these words are the people who created a sanctuary for my suffering, homeless parts all those years ago when I was actively alcoholic and then newly sober; full of self-hatred, self-pity, fear and doubt. People like Sheila, Deb, Peg, Phyl, and Terrie. Some of them listened to the crying, depressed drunk. Others listened to the young woman struggling to find sobriety. They all listened to me and my pain. They were indeed a listening sanctuary for my homeless parts. It made all the difference. It continues to make all the difference. Thank you all!
With the pace of our society today, with the prominence of technology in our daily lives, I fear that listening is becoming a lost art. That really concerns me. Relationships of any kind don't work without good listening. A text, a tweet, or other digital connection can never fully replace the face-to-face human connections that come with genuine listening.
Today I will try to be the kind of listener who creates a sanctuary for others. Pausing in gratitude is a good start because I am listening with my heart and soul.
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