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that work for me most often come out of the mouths of my peers. active listening? well one thing is for certain, if i have my phone in my hand, i am not listening very actively to what is being said. it can also be observed, that if i am cracking up with my neighbor at a meeting, it would not be possible that i am actually listening actively at all, as well. those are very easy examples of my behaviors that point out the fact that maybe, just maybe, i have not heard a word someone else has said, despite my experience that HOW to do this gig, on a daily basis, comes directly from what my peers share at meetings. speaking of which:

Linda L,
You bod may be in Texas, but i still remember.
Congrats on completing your 13TH year
of Just For today!

moving right along. i chose the most obvious example of where i am more than likely not practicing active example and although it may be fun to flail myself as the scourge of all things decent and wholesome, by continuing the litany of “listening sins” i commit, i think the point has been made. i am still far from thee perfect listener and there is HOPE that someday that may change. here i claim no percentage as to how well i do listen actively, as that would go to my point above, beating myself up over my of so human traits. i do know this for a fact: when i choose, and trust me, it is always a choice, to NOT listen actively, i am probably missing out on that one turn of a phrase that i need or that one new way of looking at an intractable problem. it is not the speaker who loses out, it is me, dang it all, and i work hard at doing my best not to miss anything i may need to thrive today. now that i have the that out of the way, what is going on with me today?
when i left my service commitment last night, i seemed to be the most popular person in the world. my phone had blown up in the 75 minutes i was away from it and as i waded through my morass of mass communications, i found myself answering a number not identified as a contact. that call, the whole 2 minutes that it lasted was the most significant one of my day, as it demonstrated to me, where i would be, without a program. no matter how hard i listened i could not understand what the fVck the caller was trying to say. their words were clear but the ideas were far from well expressed. i know they wanted something, and it probably was something i was willing to give, but they hung up in a petulant frenzy after i mentioned the notion that maybe they needed to go to a meeting. this morning i am not concerned, that is their stuff, if they want me to do something, they need to realize that my life does not revolve around theirs.
today, out of respect for myself and others i will do my best to be present for all of those who happen to enter my path, and perhaps even be a bit better at listening actively to what they are saying.

∞ DT ∞