I am generally a quiet person. I only like talking when it is a business discussion or when I am given a chance to share my knowledge with others. Otherwise, talking is just not my thing anymore.
I like listening.
I benefit from listening to other people’s experiences and thoughts. I have an aptitude to sit with a person for an hour, with my ears open, attention focused, passage to brain available and just listen. Unlike a therapist. But I could be one excellent therapist. I would not have cared for money because the quality of listening builds my soul, and trading soul for money only brings catastrophic implications.
Listening is like a bivouac to me; it shelters me from going astray on path of uncertainty. I listen because it is as valuable as an Ivy League to me.
I learn.
I evolve.
I innovate.
I reinvent myself.
I learn a lot. Sometimes, I learn how to be impressive, strong, un-defeatable, invincible and unique; sometimes I learn the ways not to look like an idiot.
Listening opens door into other person’s mind. It resolves expected resentments and circumvents onslaught of aversion to my opinions.
Since I have discovered this weapon in me, my life has changed. It is peaceful. Now I have a purpose; a purpose of shaping minds; a purpose of eradicating frustration in people; a purpose of giving voice.
But I wonder, why therapists and psychologists still fail to make world a better place. I wonder more that why people still go to sofa-pasted-figures when they can easily talk to a friend or if not a friend, a wall, without spending a dime.
I agree with you, Matt but there are friends, even strangers, who are good listeners and give the right advice.
I have been to therapists and I never found the answers. I only found what was right for me when I asked my friends to listen to me. It depends who the friend is.
I always figure people go to therapists because the world is, essentially, afraid of the truth.
We're not supposed to talk to strangers. That's what we're told, on this tense political stage. And we take that to heart. But the truth is, we're all strangers, in a way, to one another. People never seem to say to their friends,
"Harry? I'm scared. I'm scared because the world is a lot bigger than I'll ever be able to understand."
People will laugh it off or ignore it, because they're not ready for that kind of truth. So we tell someone who's paid to listen. Because sometimes friends are stranger than strangers.