To understand and be understood

The most basic of all human needs is the need to understand and be understood. The best way to understand people is to listen to them.

~ Ralph G. Nichols

Something to think about…

Our experiences educate us to help show each other the way.  Others’ experiences, likewise, will help still others.  We need to share our histories.  There is no greater honor we can give one another than rapt attention.  We each want to be heard, to be special, to be acknowledged.  And recognition may well be the balm that will heal someone’s hurt today.

A new day faces us, a day filled with opportunities to really listen to someone who needs to be heard.  And the surprise is that we will hear a message just right for us, where we are now.  A message that may well point us in a new, better direction.  Guidance is always at hand, if only we listen for it.  But when we are trapped in our own narrow world of problems and confusion, we scramble whatever messages are trying to reach us.  And we miss the many opportunities to make another person feel special and necessary to our lives.

Source (modified):  Each Day a New Beginning | Hazelden Meditations

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If you were a punctuation mark, what would you be?

Friends are family you choose

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A little cutie snuggled with mommy

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Maryland Crab Cakes

Maryland Crab Cakes | alexandra’s kitchen.

Cute doggy door

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You are always on my mind…

15 Things to Give Up

Metal sculpture created by artist David Kracov

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Just before I fall asleep

I’m always most creative just before I fall asleep.
~ Author Unknown

Isn’t that the truth?!!!

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The thief of time

Never do tomorrow what you can do today. Procrastination is the thief of time.

~ Charles Dickens

Something to think about…

Procrastination is habitual.  It’s perhaps a habit we’ve struggled with over the years, and not one that can be willed away.  It eats at us, no doubt.  How many times have we gone to bed at night depressed, discouraged, angry with ourselves for not finishing a job we promised ourselves, or someone else, we’d do?  Sometimes it feels hopeless.  The tasks awaiting our attention pile up, seem impossible to complete.  But there is hope.

We have only this day to concern ourselves with.  We can break the spell of procrastination, lethargy, immobility, if we choose.  We can pick a task that needs attention, any task, preferably a small one for today.  Maybe it’s writing a letter, or fixing a hem, or making an appointment to see a doctor.  Deciding to do something, and then doing it, breaks through the barriers that have caged us.  Immediately, we will sense the surge of freedom.  In this moment, we can always act.  and any act will free us.

Source (modified):  Each Day a New Beginning | Hazelden Meditations

barnesandnoble.com/w/each-day-a-new-beginning-karen-casey/1101316704

Rain and rainbows

Everybody wants happiness,
Nobody wants pain,
But you can’t have a rainbow
Without a little rain.

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8 Ways to Declutter Your Mind

Spectacular lightning

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Beautiful Siberian forest

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Cat lounging in leopard print

Stylish shadow

Coffee break

You haven’t had enough coffee until you can thread a sewing machine while it’s running.

Never ever give up!

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Turtle lineup

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Real love begins where nothing is expected in return

Looking in the same direction

Loving is not just looking at each other, it’s looking in the same direction.
~ Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

The art of listening

The reality of the other person lies not in what he reveals to you, but what he cannot reveal to you. Therefore, if you would understand him, listen not to what he says, but rather to what he does not say.

~ Khalil Gibran

Something to think about…

When we don’t listen fully to each other, when we don’t revere the spirit within others that’s trying to talk to us, we destroy the connection that wants to be made between our spirits.  Our inner selves have messages to give and messages to receive for the good of all.  Our ego selves often keep us from hearing the very words that would unravel a problem in our lives.

How hard it is, how often, to be still and to fully listen to the words, rather than the person.  How much more familiar it is to filter the message with our own ongoing inner dialogue — our own ongoing continual assessment of another’s personhood at the very time our higher power is trying to reach us through them.

There really are no wasted words.  Messages are everywhere.  We can learn to listen.

Source (modified):  Each Day a New Beginning | Hazelden Meditations

barnesandnoble.com/w/each-day-a-new-beginning-karen-casey/1101316704

Better and happier

Let no one ever come to you without leaving better and happier.

~ Mother Teresa

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Happy people

Happy people find possibilities in every situation.

~ Katrina Mayer