Talk is cheap. Listening is rare. True listening is rarer. Listen with your heart. Listen to the sounds being made. Listen to the tone.
Everyone who speaks hopes to say something that will reveal themselves to themselves. Some do not even listen to themselves and what they are saying and what they are meaning to say. Some do not know what they are saying at all.
Listen so that you may understand, and create a bridge of understanding upon which you both may walk.
The listener may be more essential than the speaker.
Do not correct people for what they say. You are not meant to be an eraser who changes what has been said. You are to be a listener who reflects another's heart. Your listening is like a beautiful reflection in a rippling pool.
Listen, nod, and then tell the person what he said. What a gift that is, for through your listening the speaker hears himself.
Listening is like a tip you leave on the table. It is more than money you leave. It is recognition. It is a courtesy, and is like signing off and giving closure.
You give a speaker closure when he knows you understood what he was saying. Listening is a great gift. It is also a great gift you give to yourself. From listening you also grow.
Your desire to grow is strong. You are always looking for more, and that includes understanding of yourself and others. How easy and lovely people would be if only you understood them! They are giving you clues all the time. How easy and lovely life would be if you understood it! How wise you would become!
The step to wisdom is love. Love can only take you to wisdom. And what is wisdom but understanding? When you listen to someone, you are giving them love. There is no listening without love. For it is the heart you listen with. And it is from the heart that wisdom comes.
Wisdom of life is not intellectual. It is not scientific. It cannot be bred in a laboratory or in a college or in a court of law. Wisdom comes from elsewhere. Wisdom can only come from within you where it was waiting to be noticed all along. You have never been without wisdom. You have a bank of it. You may not have accessed wisdom, however, because, like happiness, you think it comes from somewhere else and therefore may not have recognized it.
Wisdom from your heart does not require confirmation. It does require your listening for it.