Wait for it...

So often it seems folk do not know what to say next.  I say something like, “what’s new?”  They respond, “Nothing.  No one ever listens anyway.”  It is what I say next that bamboozles them. “I’m listening.” (Just as an aside I get the same response when someone asks me, “What do you know?” and I say, “Lots of things.  What do you want to know?”)
A quote by Simone Well in the latest James Clear email had me thinking about that. “Attention is the rarest and purest form of generosity."
I probably highlight it ad nauseum, but it seems to be such a rare commodity, yet for all of us I think it is an incredibly important commodity.  To be listened to.  Perhaps even to feel understood.
As far as I am concerned everyone’s voice is significant. Some things are heard and dismissed in an instant.  Yet to me it seems so often it is not what is initially said that matters, but that it is combined with a listening ear.  Too often it seems what lies beneath is missed as what is said first causes another to walk away and miss the next or next thing said, that is a gem.
Even if it is not a gem having another open up is often enriching for both the hearer and the speaker.  Many great books remain unread as the first pages failed to capture the reader.
Every life is a story.  To be where I am today involved many steps.  Both mis-steps and sure-footedness have lessons to teach.  (First to teach me if I learn and perhaps another.)  But the lesson – perhaps vital – remains unheeded and unlearned when undiscovered.
Discovery often involves listening.  It often involves patience and caring.  A willingness to hear.  A willingness to perhaps put aside much that is unprofitable before one discovers something of great value.  Something that can change a life or many lives.
To me there are few things worse than walking away from someone when all life stories are guaranteed to contain great wealth if I patiently and open-heartedly look.