ARE YOU LISTENING?

ARE YOU LISTENING?

Questions: How does a comedian know they are heard? How do you know what you are saying to others is being heard? Is it important that you know?

My voice for the most part reaches you through the written digital word. This format, while convenient, is not particularly conducive for dialogue. I write – you read – the end. We don’t sit together. We can’t observe nonverbal expressions of affirmation or skepticism. Occasionally some of you leave a comment or send a personal text. I don’t know when you share me with others and that doesn’t matter much to me, the not knowing. What matters most is that you thought something that you read was worth sharing with someone else. So, “How do I know what I am saying is being heard? I don’t – not really. Well, that’s almost true!

Sometimes the production and mechanics of this blog gets a bit tiresome. When this happens, inevitably, I will run into someone who offers a word of encouragement, references something I have written in a conversation or share this blog on social media. I know then that I am heard. One is good enough for me.

Instead of worrying about other’s hearing me, I find myself asking, “Am I hearing Me?’ It is easy to write words – it is much harder to live the words. How do you know you are heard? Are you hearing what the small inner voice is saying? Is it important that you know? Perhaps the ego determines the answer to these questions.

How does the comedian know he or she is heard? Laughter… there is an audible response. Silence after a joke signals a slow slide to failure for the comedian and the gig is in danger of being lost. I wish the answers to the questions were as easy to come by. Audible response may or may not be the measuring tool to assess us being heard.

We are not comedians. Our livelihood is not dependent on instant response. Our gauge for being heard is different. Are others moved to act because you have spoken? Silence can be active. Does your small inner voice prompt you to act?

As a writer, I bring value to you when I write with clarity, conviction, and confidence about a small snippet of subject matter. I have no control over what happens beyond pen meeting paper and hitting the publish button in the blog site. I do know what I write provides guidance for my life when I let it speak through the small inner voice in me and when those around me remind me to live my words.

Proverbs 19:27

PONDER THIS THOUGHT… Stop looking to be heard by others – listen for something to say that others can hear.