But I Have A Witness!

Dennis Cox/Photos.com

Our son was home from college over the Labor Day weekend.  It was a rare weekend because our daughter was not scheduled to work and we had more time together than normal. It’s always great to have all four of us at the table.  Pancakes in the morning, yummy grilled chicken in the evening

At one point the weekend my husband had come in through the door from the garage to our family room.  I could hear the door opening and shutting.  I shouted a welcoming “hello”  from the kitchen upstairs.  Then,…nothing.  No reply. No acknowledgement.

Okay, I’ll admit that this h as become a bit of a pet peeve for me. My daughter seems to have the same problem of not hearing or not responding if she does hear.  So…I called on a witness.  Robert was standing with me in the kitchen.  I called out my husband as he came up the stairs.  Why don’t you respond when I say “hello”?  Then my witness turned on me.  “Mom, Dad said hello.  You just didn’t hear him”.  Ouch!  Now I was being called out.

We live in a noisy world.  Not only is our environment filled with sound and distractions, I find that my thoughts are noisy and fill my head so that I do not always hear what people are saying around me. Maybe I need to have my hearing  checked.  Maybe I just need to clear my head, focus my attention and learn to listen better.

There are at least three kinds of listening that I am dedicated to mastering:

1. Listening to what you say.
2. Listening for what is impacting you.
3. Listening for what you value

What about you?   Take a moment to add a comment and let others know what kind of listening is important to you.