Friday, April 27, 2012

Listening



My childhood? A lot of talking.
It's been said, of younger me,
that I loved the sound of
my own voice! Children's theater, singing
and acting lessons. Talk. Talk. Talk.

My adolescence? A lot of talking.
My own phone line, so the
house phone wasn't always busy. More
theater, singing ... my words, a playwright's
words ... Talking out life's mysteries.

Early adulthood? A lot of talking.
Convince the husband, train the children,
teach the class...talk in English,
talk in French...purposeful talk, sharing
words of wisdom, life's mysteries solved!

I don't know when the shift
occurred. It might have been my
husband's humor. Or watching my children
discover the world. I wanted to learn
them, to know them, this precious
family of mine. The sound of 
their voices became more captivating than 
my own. And I discovered listening.

Real listening. Ear listening. Heart listening.
More learning than knowing. Some silence.
The irony? As I've talked less,
and opened wide my listening heart,
my inner voice has grown clearer.





9 comments:

  1. WoW adrienne, this is beautiful. a deeper look into you, your words are powerful!!

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  2. That last stanza says so much. The words are ones I, too, can proudly proclaim.

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  3. Well said! Although I've been always on the quiet side, listening, so perhaps I should turn it around.:)

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  4. I love that you saw this change in yourself, and you seem to embrace it.

    I was the same way growing up and I feel that shift happening with myself too now that I have my kids. Somehow it works better when I talk less, listen more with them.

    Thanks for sharing - this is a good lesson for us all.

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  5. "Heart listening" - I love it. I feel that change happening in myself too. :)

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  6. Brilliant.

    I want to be able to say the same about myself--I'm still working on listening better! The daily-ness of life gets inn the way sometimes, but I am trying. :)

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  7. Very nice! That's a lesson that most of us can learn: talk less, listen more.
    Have a good weekend!

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  8. This is such an awesome piece, Adrienne! I feel the same way about my time frames with all the talking and talking, and now, I'm learning to listen. It's slow and steady. But at least it's steady. :)

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  9. Maybe you got all of your talking out early on and so now you're primed to listen to all of the other talking going on. :)

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