Have you ever had strong feelings that you shared with someone you loved and felt like they just wouldn’t listen? You spoke with conviction, appropriateness, reason and heartfelt love, but the person you were speaking to just honed in deeper and attached even more strongly to their own entrenched position, along with an inappropriate display of anger? Did you feel defeated? Or hopeless? Did you find it hard to maintain your best self? It’s hard to remain at our best when someone else isn’t.
But, our vision for our choices must transcend what we see in this world. Our vision must be a Godly one; motivated by the peace that only He can bring when we connect to His spirit. Let us not allow our choices to be determined by the ways of this world, but by the peace that God yearns for us to have. When we are connected with Him, when we remain our best, our soul remains with Him. No other peace can come close to the peace we have in those moments.
Try to take a step back, take a break from the conversation, and be sure you are also practicing good listening. In most cases, people don’t listen until they have first felt heard. Try to accept influence from those you love. After all, this is what makes relationships strong. Listen like you want to uncover more of their soul than you already know. Listen like you love and value the person that they are. Listen the way you want to be listened to.
