I'm sure you've heard the phrase, "you were given two ears to listen more and one mouth to speak less."
We all wish to be heard because we all wish to be seen. Validation is certainly comforting. As we coexist on this spinning planet of comparison we falsely assume that our words define us. Particularly if we say them with a puffed up chest and some confidence.
But this is not where true strength lies. Words have a funny way of bypassing our inner filtration system. Some of our filtration systems are clogged up. At times we find them disconnected. Perhaps for a few, they were never installed in the first place and remain in their cardboard packaging.
Might I turn your attention for a moment to a standard sink. Typically one meets a handle for "hot" and one for "cold." Think for a moment how quickly we tend to reach for just one handle — either "hot" or "cold" — but rarely both at once. We only adjust the temperature later, after we have either burned our hands or shivered in our shoes.
I'd like you to imagine the handles on the sink as your two ears, the faucet as your mouth, and the water coming through as your words. We likewise tend to reach for one option when listening. Thus when speaking, we feverishly jump to "hot" conclusions or become bitingly "cold" with our responses. However, once we realize the effects on the hands — on another's heart — we adjust the temperature accordingly.
Have you ever noticed that placing two ears together creates the outline of a heart? Is this a mere coincidence, or divinely intended? The clues are there if you so choose to see them.
hEARt.
HEARt.
The heART of the HEART.
What can you create, when you listen from your heart? I'll let you go find out.
