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it does not preach or lecture -- it listens. so as i sit here this morning with a bit of extra time, i am considering how and if i really am becoming fluent in the language of empathy. there are people in my life, who in my mind, i am certain never ever listen to what i am saying, and have taken the attitude that they know what is really going on inside of me. BUT, this is not about other people, and what i am hearing this morning as i listen to my heart rather than my head, is that it may be me, who is not listening. or at least not listening to everyone, and selective empathy is like saying i am fluent in Spanish when all i can say is i do not speak Spanish.
yes, others may be so wrapped up in getting their point across to me, that i shut-off all communication, stop listening and believe that they have nothing to offer me. and perhaps that is correct, after all, if the problem exists in me, it may also exist in others with whom i interact. so pointing the microscope back at the real subject of this particular investigation, do i really listen to what others are trying to tell me? do i really look for what we have in common, or am i so intent in getting my point across, that i miss everything that is happening around me?
the answers to those two questions are critical parts of what i need to be looking at this morning, because if i believe that the concept of a HIGHER POWER speaks to me through others, it is my fluency or lack thereof, in the particular language that will affect whether or not i am really growing on a daily basis, or just marking time.
i know going down this path, may open me up to discovering answers that i may not like. after all, i can be arrogant, ego-centric and close-minded. i can also be open and empathetic, those particular traits are hardly mutually exclusive, and often are being exercised at the same time, creating a truly complex set of interactions with the world around me.
where do i go from here? well, i will let these questions percolate under the surface, as i go through my day, and i will know intuitively what tro do, when the answers arrive, i can be present for what i am doing, what i am feeling and how i am behaving, the days of being able to dismiss all of that with a wave of the ‘i am just an addict,’ magic wand is way behind me. i do have power over how i behave these days, and perhaps, today is a good day to let go, and see what happens. so off to the showers and into my day.

∞ DT ∞