Listening

I am an introvert naturally, and a lot of times my family and my work collide with my need to not talk or listen. The members of my family talk a lot, and it is especially overboard when my younger daughter wants to communicate something. EVERYTIME she says something, we must repeat it so that SHE knows that WE know what she is talking about. So, she says, "That balloon is purple." Then I must repeat, "That balloon is purple." If not, she will keep on repeating it. Trust me, it's best to get her on the first time.

For my sanity and the health of my family, I have learned to block noises out (whining, repeating things, annoying sounds, that blasted toy trumpet that we got at the County Fair, thanks to the van Doesburgs....). My husband will have to say, "LAURA, your daughter has been yelling your name for the last minute, do you want to answer her?"

However, I also have the wonderful couples that I work with repeat a lot of things. The husband will say, "I felt unimportant when you didn't leave any time in your schedule for the things we planned." And then I will instruct the wife to repeat, and she will say, "You are really angry that I didn't listen to you." The the husband will correct her, because that is not what he was trying to communicate.

Truly 100% listening is an amazing, healing, and connecting event. This week I am going to try to find the beauty in that glorious sounding toy trumpet. What are you listening to?