Monday, August 27, 2007

Listen

Tandaina is someone I really need to listen to right now.

Ya think?

I've got to listen to Tim and Ray, just listen, not try to fix. I can't fix. I know that. But I can listen.

5 comments:

June Butler said...

Kate, me too, with my son who is still grieving in the wake of his divorce. He tells me the same stuff over and over, and my impulse is to try to fix things for him. He does not want to hear my fixes. He just wants me to listen.

How many times to I have to listen to him say the same things over and over again? I have about reached my limit for listening to the same old same old.

Josephine- said...

I'm glad someone other than me got something out of that one. :)

Listening can be hard. Knowing when to stop can be harder. Knowing when to offer gentle advice? That I'm going to need a lot more formation to be able to answer.

The most important part of listening for me is the letting go. Not holding on to what others tell me but opening my hands and letting it just escape back to whatever (God, Buddha, the universe).

Kate said...

Grandmère Mimi, judging from how often I need to repeat things sometimes, the answer is probably 'a lot'.

Tandaina, I used to be pretty good at offering gentle advice -- when I was a kid, and sometimes even when I was a teenager.

Then I grew up, promptly lost the ability, and took about ten years figuring that fact out. I hope I didn't damage anyone too much.

RevDrKate said...

The thing I've been figuring out is that half the time when I'm saying stuff to other people I'm really saying it to myself, so maybe I can spare them and just talk to me, eh?

Kate said...

Oh Lord, hun; so, so true!