I
recall my father encouraging me to - as he put it - “be swift to hear and slow
to speak”, and sometimes, at 73, I still see little progress in myself in these
areas. I’m still fairly slow to settle down and truly listen to someone – slow
to show people that I sincerely care about what they are saying. I act like I’m listening, true, but often
my mind makes excursions in all kinds of directions rather than actually staying
with what is being said to me. My dad would be disappointed to know that I’m definitely
swift to speak, but not so often willing to wait patiently, stay silent, and
actually listen to what someone is saying.I love his idea of being “swift to hear”. I want to be able
to suddenly stop everything in order to truly hear what a person is saying. I
want to be brisk in bringing my attention when someone is speaking to me. These
days, I like to live in a laid-back way, but when I’m listening to someone, I
want to be swift with my kindness and care.
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