You Need to Hear This!?
One day, a friend kindly passed on his gratitude. I quickly fobbed it off and replied that my actions were just what I do. It is who I am.
Swiftly, he replied, ‘Yes, but you need to hear what I am saying. ’ He was congenially firm, and it made me pause and take notice.
His polite insistence for me to pay close attention to his thankfulness was ringing in my ears long after I put the phone down.
Now there are two bits in his one sentence. First, there is my need. There is a part in all of us that has a need to accept recognition and gratitude when it is offered. To own it and accept it as an integral part of ourselves. We should not simply brush off heartfelt and authentic comments from others. We need to understand that we actually do some good stuff sometimes. Sure, not 100% of the time, but all of us want to leave others and the world a better place. And while we might fail sometimes, all of us strive to achieve a high standard and set the bar accordingly.
The other bit to my friend’s comment is the word listen. I wonder how many times I have been spoken to and not really listened. How many times has someone written to me and I have passed it off as old so and so, just being polite and minding their manners? Most of the time, people really do mean what they say, and if they didn’t mean it, they wouldn’t say it. It is especially powerful, I think, when they have actually made the time and expended the energy to write a letter.
I need to Listen with a capital L, not just to show the appropriate respect to the speaker, but for mine.