listening

Most of the problems in life are because:We misunderstand people's intentions, We don't listen and jump to conclusions, Then we are too proud to apologise and too stubborn to forgive.

Learn to listen when people are talking. Frist, it's a great art, and second, it's quite possible that when people say ne thing they mean another.

He knew most men only heard what they wanted to hear, and he had no desire to be like most men.

To listen is very hard, because it asks of us so much interior stability that we no longer need to prove ourselves by speeches, arguments, statements, or declarations. True listeners no longer have an inner need to make their presence known. They are free to receive, to welcome, to accept.Listening is much more than allowing another to talk while waiting for a chance to respond. Listening is paying full attention to others and welcoming them into our very beings. The beauty of listening is that, those who are listened to start feeling accepted, start taking their words more seriously and discovering their own true selves. Listening is a form of spiritual hospitality by which you invite strangers to become friends, to get to know their inner selves more fully, and even to dare to be silent with you.

If I tell you I am upset about everything that's going on around me, you will probably ask me why, half listening, half wandering away in your own train of thoughts...If I tell you I am happy, you will probably not bother to know why, congratulating me and forgetting..I should rather tell you I am fine, satisfied, you will probably tell me your own issues then, for which I will be all ears

Samuel finally understood the sound of the wind after all these years: The winds were a chorus of the prairie__ ever-present heartaches.

He could follow someone__ mind around, and get where it was going before the other fellow knew where it was going.

Every experienced pastor knows that what the penitent heart says about itself is much more consequential than well-made truthful sentences that shout from the outside of the inner voice of conscience. No element of confession is more crucial than the discipline of listening. The attentive listener is a chosen agent of divine reconciliation. When the moment for keen listening is offered, take it as an inestimable gift.

You are now listening to me; you are not making an effort to pay attention, you are just listening; and if there is truth in what you hear, you will find remarkable change taking place in you _ a change that is not premeditated or wished for, a transformation, a complete revolution in which the truth alone is master and not the creations of your mind. And if I may suggest it, you should listen in that way to everything _ not only to what I am saying, but also to what other people are saying; to the birds, to the whistle of a locomotive, to the noise of the bus gong by. You will find that the more you listen to everything, the greater is the silence, and that silence is then not broken by noise. It is only when you are resisting something, when you are putting up a barrier between yourself and that to which you do not want to listen _ it is only then that there is a struggle.

In our post-everything culture, obey has become a four-letter word. Obeying is for wimps. Obeying is for people who didn__ do well enough on their SATs to write their own rules. Only the weak and the feeble and the young_-well, not even the young anymore_-need to obey. Funny, because the root of the word obey is from the French verb meaning __o listen, or to give ear to._ It was never intended as a militant word, but one of hearing, of understanding. Of getting it. For a world obsessed with staying in constant communication, we aren__ really very good listeners.

When I have been listened to and when I have been heard, I am able to re-perceive my world in a new way and to go on. It is astonishing how elements that seem insoluble become soluble when someone listens, how confusions that seem irremediable turn into relatively clear flowing streams when one is heard. I have deeply appreciated the times that I have experienced this sensitive, empathic, concentrated listening.

The only way to entertain some folks is to listen to them.

Horace Greeley's conversation inevitably becomes a speech.

It is only through dialogue, deep listening, and passionate disagreement that we find our way to something larger than a singular and isolated point of view.

When we were young, we were told that poetry is about voice, about finding a voice and speaking with this voice, but the older I get I think it__ not about voice, it__ about listening and the art of listening, listening with attention. I don__ just mean with the ear; bringing the quality of attention to the world. The writers I like best are those who attend.

...you listen first with the ears - then, you wait and listen for what your heart feels - then you consider what they've said - then, you reply ...

I always listen to what I can leave out.

Are You Listening Attentively? There__ so much power in listening! I challenge you to listen more. Really pay attention to what people are saying. What are they REALLY talking about? Many times we overlook and/or make excuses for people__ conversations. Don__ allow people to dump garbage in your spirit. What we listen to can have a negative effect on what, and how, we think. Be choosy about the relationships you entertain. Surround yourself with people that bring out the best in you. People that are positive, inspiring, and genuine. Remember: Value your time! Don__ waste it on dead-end and/or fake relationships.