September 17
Katrina,
Autumn is embracing The Oak, comforting the property, embracing the house like a mother’s arms rocking her child to sleep for the winter. The wise mountain sits, overlooking The Oak, and I long to walk up its side, sit in the noonday sun, and ask questions of the trees; questions to help create an understanding within me of the world; questions with answers that may help to create peace in the recesses of my mind, in the soul, and in the world.
I’ve been wondering, Katrina, while sitting here remembering the past, recalling events from long ago and contemplating causes and outcomes and how things happen as they do, about listening. It is said to be a great skill of communication but, as I sit here, I think listening may hold keys to deeper meanings.
Communication is so complicated, with subtle clues to meaning gathered from emphasis on certain words and body movements and slight changes in tone. One who is speaking may mean to be humorous, but the one who is listening may consider the meaning to be critical. Are we listening with ears or with hearts? Or, are we listening from a much deeper place, a place that anonymously whispers to our spirit what the anonymous voice wants us to believe about the message, a place that has already made up its mind about meaning before the speaker even begins speaking, judgments that are made before a sound is uttered? Do we simply hear what we want to hear or do listen for what we expect to hear or what we hope to hear?
Most people have been in that situation, haven’t they, Kat? A situation of confusion where meaning is distorted somewhere between the sender and the receiver, both being left puzzled, either immediately or at a later date after rumors have begun about the conversation, about the temperament of the parties involved? I’ve been on both ends, sometimes misunderstanding the intent of another and, other times, people leaving my presence angered at something I’ve said though I had no ill intentions. And the emotion that is caused by these misunderstandings is lasting and effects reputations, tainting future conversations with certain meanings before they occur as if a seed had been planted.
Why? How? What demons of discontent are at work? What voices from the past are making judgments and convincing us to make judgments, and causing pain within the hearts of the innocent, causing pain for no other reason than because they can?
Only the angels know the truth.
Sisters,
Christina
This work is fictional. Any resemblance to actual situations or persons, living or dead, is coincidental and unintentional.
Messages From The Heart, a collection of poems and verses authored by Debra Phillips is now available in print at www.wordclay.com and in downloadable format at www.lulu.com.
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