What is the Sound of Healing Happening?
Wednesday Inspiration
Years ago I was talking with someone who was part of a spirituality group I was leading. In the midst of our conversation, I got what may have been one of the greatest compliments of my life.
She said, “When you’re around, people heal. Everybody knows that.”
That definitely made me feel special. I didn't realize that I had picked up such a reputation.
I wondered what I had done to earn it.
The place where I socialized most was at a local bar. It wasn't uncommon for me to find myself in conversations with people there who simply needed to talk.
Relationship issues. Employment issues. General existential crises.
If you're willing to give people time in a bar, you're going to get an earful
Most conversations started off with general talk about spirituality. Then somewhere along the line, the train would jump the track and the next thing I knew they were revealing something personal to me.
I sat there. I listened. I didn't judge.
Sometimes, I reflected back thoughts or probed a bit more so they could keep going until they were done. I generally didn't try to fix their problems, although sometimes I did give advice.
That's it. That's all I did.
One of the things that I've discovered through the years is that everybody needs to be heard from time to time.
We all live in fear, and we need someone else to know it
We all have deep wounds we carry within us, and we need to tell someone about them.
We all feel the pain of helplessness and despair, and we need a shoulder to cry on.
Whenever we have the opportunity to sit with someone else and truly be heard, deep healing happens. It may not miraculously transform our lives overnight, but it does make tomorrow a little easier.
But here's the trick…
In order to open up, we have to feel safe.
We have to feel as though the person who is listening isn't going to judge us. And, they certainly can't go out and tell everybody in the neighborhood (or online) about what we said or did.
While it might have made me feel special to hear that my reputation was one of a “healer” in the community, in actuality what I was doing wasn't really all that special.
Anyone can do it. You can do it. You, too, can become a healer.
All you have to do is learn to listen and learn how to be a safe person.
In other words.
Stop talking.
Stop fixing their problems.
Stop answering their questions.
And, don't tell anybody about what you heard.
If you do that, I suspect you will discover a call to a much deeper life than you had previously known.
If you hear this call, and if you choose to respond, I'm confident you will find yourself becoming an agent in Life in this world—one who is helping to overcome the darkness in the lives of the people around you.
Peace, Bo
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