I want to be a good listener.
To listen to my heart: There is always a voice within me that speaks from deep within. Whether you call it gut feelings, God, or what have you, it is there and it needs to be heard. Negative thoughts and self-doubt can creep in and make it harder to hear this voice sometimes. But if I let go of all of that, at the core of me there are some really good things happening inside. My heart tells me to believe in myself and God is always there assuring me that I am not alone.
To listen to my body: Especially when it comes to running – to staying injury free and stretching my limits, going to my edges and becoming a stronger person and a stronger/faster runner – I need to listen to my body. Sometimes it tells me to hold back, that I am doing too much. I listen and tone down the intensity or mileage, roll things out and do more yoga and strength training. Other times it tells me I better believe in myself because I have it in me to do great things with this body of mine and I need to push myself and let things happen.
To listen to my children: Although I try, I’m not sure I always do the best job listening to my children. True, sometimes they completely confuse me and I think they are crazy (keeping up with their food preferences and aversions in particular is HARD for me … it seems one day they are an avid fan of a food and then the next day they hate it, but they SWEAR I just have it all wrong), and I think mostly they all over the place but I also believe I need to take some of the responsibility for “getting it wrong” sometimes. I want to get in the habit of being a good listener for my children, so that as they grow and mature as people they will know – without a shred of a doubt – that I am here for them and that I am paying attention. I love them so much and it is important to me that they they feel they will be HEARD when they are talking to me.
To listen to others: I want to be a good friend, a good sister, a good wife and a good teacher. Part of this means listening, really listening, to the people I love and who I interact with. Whether it is a student in my Pilates class, a running buddy, one of my close friends or sisters or my husband I want to be present and to be listening. Sometimes I think I am too quick to talk when someone just needs to be heard. Sometimes just listening is all a loved one needs to feel better. I want to be more aware of that and attuned to what the ones I love need from me.
Are you listening? What are you hearing?
