One leaf and its identity!

A tree is often not bare without at least one leaf!

There are marks on both twigs, of the marks of leaves that did fall away. 

Now one solitary dried leaf left! Its turn to fall away would also come soon!

In the mean time, what is all bout its leaf! It is the solitary expression of the genotype and phenotype of the tree. One leaf is enough to express the character of a tree!

I have struggled with it on many occasions! I have felt alone on many occasions while pursuing a direction or a path in life. 

I have been asked or made to feel as to why I take about forty minutes or more while on an on-line consultation with a family! 

As a listener by choice, I wait to listen and take that exercise to discern.  During the five hundred or so on line consultations in the last few months, I found that it was while unhurried listening I was given clues to think of diagnosis that I would have missed as they were uncommon conditions.  

What is it to listen! 

Listening is to receive a person inwardly. This is not a calling for a counsellor alone. In all forms of conversations, we are not to be carried away by what we hear to make impressions or decisions, but it is by feeling with the person through the words heard, we get closer to that person inwardly.  The 'feeling ' dimension is what a robot cannot provide. How terrible it would be if we end up being robots while listening. 

In health care, the way we listen imparts a consciousness about how much we care!

A leaf carries the identity of its tree. We  reveal our identity in the way we listen. 

Listening is an art. But more than that it is a habit. We, by listening honour a persona and allows him or her to express. The unburdening of talking and the comfort of being listened to together make the way for a new consciousness within oneself. 

Let us remember that a person is listening to himself or herself all the time while he out she is talking to us. We by listening, offers an occasion to articulate the thoughts which remain scattered or diffuse and allow them to be formed in to questions or answers. Even without us having to lead a person to find the next step, our listening service provided the opportunity to find an auto direction. 

Listeners bless the talkers to be path finders. He or she might not need su anymore! That is how a listener becomes a sounding board without having to carry the burdens that were poured out. The counsellor is not the provider, but an enabler to help the talker to hear himself or herself inwardly. 

Therefore listening cannot be a tiring activity but energy giving because at the end of listening we can often find the talker leaving you comfortably for having found the next immediate step!

 Listening is a gift we offer to others to find their own direction!

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)