What will happen if I don’t listen?

Posted on by philipdodson

There is always something to say, and we all have a unique journey and much to share with others. Our learning is unique to us as we are all uniquely different and what works for one does not necessarily fit another’s path. However, there are similar experiences that we all have and we can share learning and if wanted, we can share advice with others.

It is the unsolicited ‘fixing’ others type advice that is not what we want, we want people to understand us, not to tell us what happened to them. We are not interested and we want others to listen. We have to always seek first to understand, then to be understood. We have to be the first to stop the telling and do the listening.

Listening is not pausing to think about what we are going to say next. We have to listen to others in the way that we would want others to listen to us. Listening is something that we are poor at as humans, we are good at talking and mainly about ourselves.

There is one certainty, people who feel understood are more likely to listen to you and understand you. However, we can’t wait for them to listen, we have to be the one that takes the first step.

Whatever we want in life, we have to be the first. If we want more love, then we have to love more, if we want more trust, we have to trust more, if we want more hugs, we have to hug more, if we want more respect, we have to show more respect, if we want people to understand us, we have to understand more.

It is that simple, it always starts with us and we manifest the exterior world from how we choose to act. The world is how we choose to see it and is always a reflection of ourselves. We have to be brave enough to be the ones to change first.

Try it…see what happens, even within a few days.

There is an indigenous saying from North America ‘listen or your tongue will make you deaf’ and that is what will happen if you don’t listen.

What do we have to do to make it happen?

Posted on by philipdodson

In life, if we really want it, then we have to build it. 

Of course, we can dream about it, think about it, and plan it. However, at some point, we have to take the plunge and actually build it, whatever ‘it’ is.

Think, talking, planning and conceptual things are cheap and easy. However, the real work starts when we have to turn those things into reality, whether it is physically building a house or writing a book, it takes commitment.

Committing to things is a challenge as the mind will do whatever it can to minimise any risk for its pal, the Ego, and will come up with any manner of complexities, dramas, and reasons to stay safe and carry on thinking…something the mind is good at and loves, thinking.

Sometimes we just need a simple thing or reminder to wake us up and get us into this moment now. Now is the only time we are actually alive, it is the only moment of real life, in fact, our entire life consists of now. Therefore, we can only build something now and that requires us to be conscious, awake and aware of this moment, so that we can focus our energies on the doing, instead of the conceptual.

Naturally, as an artist, I have a brightly decorated and coloured skull on my desk as my reminder that at some point, I do not know when, that’s what I’ll be, a skeleton. By the way, It’s not a real skull, it’s made of polystyrene. Well, actually it should be a jar of dust, as that is the destiny for all of the 8 billion humans alive today at some time in the next 50-100 years or less. The point is it will happen, so stop thinking and start creating. Build your dream NOW!