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Listening insists that we enter into the world of the unknown without fear. Listening demands courage or a strong heart. When we strip away all that we know and suspend it in front of us, even for a moment, magic occurs. Madeleine L’Engle, after losing her forty-seven-year-old son, provided this perspective: “Creativity comes from accepting that you’re not safe, from being absolutely aware, and from letting go of control. It’s a matter of seeing everything — even when you want to shut your eyes.” By acknowledging fear and consciously working to keep our hearts open we will hear the answers.

We are compassionate when we connect to another’s heart or “passion” and contemplate their wounds and their joys. I can use contemplation to transform the “wavelength” I’m on and come into rhythm with another. As a woman, I must understand the challenges and hopes of men. As an adult, I must contemplate the heartfelt joy and struggle of today’s children. As a parent with a devoted spouse, I must spend time understanding the work and life of a single parent. By entering another’s suffering and passions we open our hearts and develop an expanded perspective.

It is only with the heart that one can see rightly. What is essential is invisible to the eye.
— Antoine de Saint- Exupéry

The friend who can be silent with us in a moment of despair or confusion, who can stay with us in an hour of grief and bereavement, who can tolerate not knowing, not curing, not healing, and face us with the reality of our powerlessness, that is the friend who cares.
— Henri Nouwen

Taken From : The Way of Conflict—Elemental Wisdom for Resolving Disputes and Transcending Differences

This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 2nd, 2009 at 7:35 am and is filed under Productivity. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.