Do you really listen when someone else speaks? Sure, you may hear them, but are you understanding the intent and meaning of what they say? Are you processing what they are emitting without seeking to immediately counter and reply? Words are communication and communication is a message. Are you getting the message?
Truthfully probably not often. This is because listening, really processing the intent and meaning of another person's words requires being still enough inside to allow that to happen. If you have the incessant chattering of anxiety inside, the endless feed of banter within, if you are spending all your time listening to your ego talking away, you will not have the ability or space to accommodate another voice.
The world is so noisy right now. Everyone wants to speak, make sure their voice is incessantly heard. This is tied to mortality. If I keep speaking, I have relevance, I have influence, I have power, I am alive. If I am silent, I am nothing, I am unheard, unnoticed. I am dead.
But our silence is where the merit is. The realm of possibility exists in silence. In silence you can hear other sounds, other voices of value and interest. In your own silence, you can appreciate that there is more beyond your voice. It isn't our silence that is empty. Emptiness exists when we fill ourselves up so much with our own voice that we can't connect to others. Practice sitting still and listening to what is being said and not said. It will revolutionize your day.
