It's not about hearing every word and tonal change in what they relate, it is — to put it perfectly bluntly — about setting your own shit aside while someone else is sharing something with you, from their heart.

As that quote goes - most people listen to respond. They don't actually fully process what you have shared and in many instances have gotten hung up on one aspect of what you have said and are already internally planning their reply to "that bit" because they related it to themselves - which then ultimately becomes a conversation about them instead of you.

Coming from a family dominated by men, I have experienced this my entire life. As the only girl and the youngest my opinion was seldom respected and neither was my emotional state of being - to a degree nothing much has changed in adulthood because they still railroad me when I share anything.

That story about the women you went on a retreat with is far more common than people realise. So many people are walking around feeling unheard, disregarded, irrelevant and sometimes even unwanted by the people who live life closest to them. It is an enormous weight to bear and I am not surprised that she broke down like she did.

Listening is indeed an act of love and a very rare one at that these days because people for the most part are self-serving and self-absorbed.

I'd get a letter in the mail — whether from a family member, friend or girlfriend — and I would often taken a day or two to truly hear what they were saying, before sitting down and penning a response.

There is much to be said for "slowing things down" - and the added richness it gives life. Social media in general being the complete opposite of course... people flying off the handle left, right and centre about this, that and pretty much everything else...

I often wonder why. What is the point in screaming your perspective and opinion to some stranger online when you know well that they will disregard yours as much as you are disregarding theirs. It all seems a little redundant if you ask me, lol.

I think there is a reason the whole "count to ten before you speak" concept came into play, because without a bit of time afforded to thought or contemplation - how much sense could be derived?!

I may be as much a talker as I am listener - but I do always try to fully process something another has shared with me, because that is or was their reality and it warrants the respect of thought connection before I reply. Also - sometimes we may not fully understand something that has been shared and this is an even bigger opportunity to show love and respect to the person sharing. Just because we don't necessarily understand or relate to what someone shares, does not render their experience any less real to them.

I have de-railed. lol.