Listening and Understanding

As a child, we were taught to listen to our elders when they talk. The listening part was always easy; we can just nod, look serious, or just look blankly at the speaker. But did we always understand what was spoken? No, highly unlikely. Were we really listening intently? Did we understand what was spoken? Sometimes we do, but sometimes we were probably distracted by something else or our mind was preoccupied with some random thought that we found interesting.

This is very problematic nowdays. We would just listen selectively and piece things along because we failed to really listen and understand the person we were talking to. Listening and understanding are key to bringing non-violence into our lives and into our world. I can’t stress enough the importance of understanding. Without understanding, we would go around living life like headless chickens whose recklessness could cause pain and harm to others. For the full content visit http://www.ichoosenonviolence.com/listening-and-understanding/.