The title of this post is from William Shakespeare's Julius Caesar and it was often recited by my High School English teacher Donato Battista (May you rest in Peace, sir!). Funny, us 16 year old misfits at the time felt that quote was completely silly and irrelevant... until we grew older and understood the art of listening.
Lately I've been hearing people out more and more and it's starting to affect me positively. I decided that my only resolution for the oncoming years is to talk less and listen more. But this isn't what this post is about.
I analyze and I receive whatever people are telling me in a conversation. I digest it. I see a lot of people hear us out, but they don't listen to us. I've been finding myself more and more interested in LISTENING (give one's attention to sound) to
people when they have something to say and putting thought into what is
being said. I say this because at times I don't put much thought into
what people tell me, I just let them talk, then their words get lost into the cosmos of a dusty shelf far far away.
We don't just eat anything right? We wanna know what we are eating... I feel like its the same thing with the things people tell us and the message they deliver. We wanna know what people tell us and what we receive into our ears. We deserve to understand and the power is always within our lazy selves to do so. That's why we should be more attentive in conversations, even if sometimes what people say isn't always as fascinating. Although I always found anything people say interesting after I thought about this listening ideology. You can benefit a lot from allowing a conversation to enter into you. I think at times we forget how awesome it is that someone wants to share with us something that is going on in their mind. Something that someone could of kept to themselves, but they decided to share it. Gotta appreciate that, and actually have those conversations where we are fascinated by the simplest thoughts. Then, we feel the beauty in those conversations we take for granted every single day.
I've also observed that people fail to look at each other in the eyes when they speak, another lost art. Sometimes, even when the person is right in front of you, you remember their face only by memory when all you gotta do is look straight ahead! Intimidating maybe a little at first, but nothing one can't break out of. Nothing is more pure to me than somebody actually talking to me and looking at me in the eye, acknowledging my presence and my listening ear. Even if it is for the littlest "thank you". I always enjoy eye contact, these little gestures go forgotten because we seem so out of touch with our humane physical world. We're better than that though, virtual reality is no reality.
REALITY IS REALITY.
REALITY IS REALITY.
The art of listening. We got eyes to see, we got mouths to talk and we have ears to LISTEN (even if it is just noise). Communication is a beautiful thing and I, still to this day remain impressed that humans have found a verbal way to express themselves in countless languages. So think about that during your next conversation, when you sincerely lend an ear to someone.
Sincerely,
LISTENING SOLA
