Listening is an art and everybody is capable of doing it. It is the greatest thing we can do to our loved ones, acquaintances, children and to other people we meet everyday and everywhere. Things will be easier if everybody listens to their inner self and to others.

I was at the store the other day when a man is telling me something which I couldn’t understand at first, just to be polite, I just smiled and then he was talking again but I was so busy looking at the magazine in the paying counter I just smiled again for the second time. I learned a long time ago that if you don’t want to listen to somebody when they are talking or when they are saying something just smile, I use that often, that smile of me which melt the heart and probably he was thinking, ah she understand what I am saying, but this time it is different, the man is telling me that I dropped a card from my small wallet. I immediately picked it up and said thank you to the man. How many times did we avoid people talking to us and just to be polite you just smile? And how many times, when we talk to other people, your partner, child, parents, sister, relatives, do you get to listen intently to them, or your mind is just set somewhere else. Then my memory flashback to what my grandmother always tells me, Apo, (my granddaughter), listen to people, don’t talk so much, listening is better, so that you can understand things more. All things become clearer when you listen. You will widen your horizon and you open your minds and after listening and understanding others, your heart will open and you will have compassion for others, she told me that. My grandmother worked as a teacher all her life until the age of 70 and then she died at the age of 94. I remember her as a person who tries to listen to everybody, and most specially to me when I tell her stories of my life, and the failures and successes I had so far. She cant listen to me anymore, but I know she is always there to guide me. I can feel it many times in my life.

When you listen, there is some kind of flow which comes from within, you understand people more, you put yourselves into their shoes and you can lay down solutions when you digest what the other person is saying. Sometimes, we are too concentrated on what our thoughts about ourselves, and our mind starts to drift of, we tend to divert our attention to other matters and we cant concentrate and understand what the other person is trying to say. Things are always better when we understand other people.

Listen………

To what the older people has to say, so that you can get a lot of lessons from their experiences, most of the times people who are grown up and older has a lot more to share and it is good if you listen to what they have to say

Listen to what your children would like to say to you. Talk to them and hear what they would like to share, what are their opinions, dreams and things that makes them happy and upset.

Listen to what your partner is saying, (both men and women). Take the time to ask and hear what the other is up to, their views and inner fears also. When you listen to your partner even though how bored you are at the time specially of the endless complaints, you may not need to listen to the same remarks again and again. The trick is if she told you before and you listened already, then she doesn’t need to repeat herself again and again. And if you listen to your sweetheart, she will also listen to you. You will understand her more and then you will support what he/she is up to. Things are a lot clearer if you hear what they are saying.

Listen to other people. When you talk to other people wherever you are, it is good if you can spare your time to listen, when you are in a party, outside the house, in a meeting or just walking, when somebody talks to you, concentrate on what they are saying and you can immediately understand them, then you can respond properly.

And most of all, listen to yourself, listen to what really matters to you, analyze what is going on in yourself, your inner self, and do what you think is right for you, not the old habits you have (kick the cig out), your past mistakes. Listen to what your heart is telling you to do and you will become a new person with positive outlook in life because you listened to what lies deep within your inner self. It is you who know yourself so well, and your weaknesses. You always want to become the better you.