Once again one of my words for the year comes a knockin’ on my door this week. LISTEN! This is such a HUGE word and comes in so many forms. The way listening came into play for me this last week, was listening to my body. I didn’t feel 100% when I went to bed the night before and when I woke up, in the time I was taking to debate pushing through the day or not, I was knocked back out again. I literally slept all day long…we MUST listen to our bodies. They talk to us, but do we always listen? It’s taken me 51 years to learn this and I’m all ears!

Gosh, as I write about this word, I have so much passion behind how important listening is in all faucets. Let’s chat about listening to others. Do you interrupt others when they are talking? Do you actually hear what they are saying? Are you thinking about what you want to say next…because if you are – you aren’t listening. Sorry to burst your bubble.

Another big aspect of listening to others is listening to your children. When my kids were growing up, it was SO hard to not react at some of the things I heard. But, here’s the deal – they really don’t want to hear what you have to say (unless they ask, of course)…just LISTEN…without judgement. What a beautiful gift to give your friends, family, significant others, children, co-workers, employees, bosses…JUST LISTEN!

If you follow along on my blog, you know that I am a BIG ‘signs’ person. Whatever higher power you believe in, God, the Universe, Mother Nature…all of it – JUST LISTEN. If you are open to listening to these signs that are presented to you (and they are presented to you daily), it’s amazing what you will hear. Now, I also have a feather/brick theory. You can listen all you want, even when you know what you are listening to is the right thing, but until that brick hits you in the head…you don’t always follow the path laid out in front of you. It’s magical and truly so beautiful when you are OPEN to listening to all the signs all around you.

LISTEN! Listen to yourself. You know yourself better than anyone else. Everyone will tell you what you ‘should’ do, you know, because they know better than you do of what YOU should do. I’ve grown to really shut down when people tell me what I should do. Advice is great, when it’s asked for. Unsolicited advice, most times, does not sit well with people. Just sayin. So, listen to YOU! I mean, take it ALL in. It’s great to bounce things off of those you trust most but NO ONE and I mean NO ONE knows your body, your situation, you life better than you!

Do you have your listening ears on? I couldn’t help myself, with all the kids’ returning to school – don’t you remember your teachers saying that to you? Let’s check ourselves and put on our listening ears. There is so much beauty in what you can actually hear when you listen. Above all, listen to YOU…never doubt yourself and remember – there are no mistakes, just lessons. Go have yourself a beautiful weekend and pick yourself a small bouquet of wildflowers. As always, thank you for being on this journey with me – together we can make a difference in our own lives and in the lives of others. Cheers!