Transformation through
listening
I love saying, “Today I
will meet the right people and radiate love wherever I go.”
On the coach coming
over the mountains, I listened to a young woman named Julie. She told me her
story. She was a frustrated German business student, and had come to Crete
years ago as a child. Julie gradually trusted me and went deep into her past
and recounted her relationships and her dreams of doing something worthwhile.
Her spirit was heavy, and her words tumbled out like accusations at herself and
life. I asked her, “What are your dreams?” She replied, “Wow, very few people
ask that question—especially at college!”
Yet, as she sat
back, feeling slightly coach sick, she suddenly remembered a dream of being
close to the land and growing vegetables and living in a community. I suggested
a lovely documentary, One Man, One Cow,
One Planet. At the end of the coach journey, she took my card, and I also
suggested she read Louise Hay’s You Can
Heal Your Life. Then she went on her way with her two German friends. I am
not writing about this to blow my own trumpet; it is simply an example of
putting love into action. I remember Ole Larson, a teacher at the Institute for
Self-Actualization (ISA). He asked me, “Do people leave you feeling better for
having met you, or worse?”
Meetings are so
wonderful when I embrace the intention just to listen and appreciate. We can
all remember, I am sure, special people who have listened to us and given us
help just at the right time and in the perfect space sequence. I am blessed
with so many people who have loved being with me on my journey. Just listen to
the song “Lean on Me” by Bill Withers: “We
all need somebody to lean on!” My fingers are tapping to the music. I love
how to love life and to be in that stream or flow. And the song ends, “Just call me if you need a friend!”
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