Yesterday, I got called out for interrupting a friend’s story. Feeling particularly impatient but very interested, I did a poor job listening and instead of allowing the story teller to continue, I eagerly interrupted with questions. There is nothing like honesty, and my friend did me the service of being honest by letting me know I wasn’t listening.
Listening is a skill, a chosen practice towards which we can choose to engage our focus or not. We have great power in choosing what, who, and how we listen. We are what we think, and we think based off how we listen, so listen yourself to what and how you want to become. Following your heart and your dream becomes easy when you learn to listen to the right voices inside of you. Every day we are presented with multiple listening choices. We can listen to the positive influences and thoughts we have, or we can listen to the negative nagging of self-doubt and criticisms. Sometimes, much like myself yesterday, we don’t listen to anything at all, keeping ourselves so busy and preoccupied with the noise of life that we loose out completely.
What voices do you listen to throughout your day and are you listening to the right ones? Listen wisely and be wise in knowing that listening is a skill that needs to be practiced every single day.