The sun sets on another day…
It is a wonderful fact that in nature no two snowflakes are alike, well, that’s what they say, but I am sure no one is out there with a magnifying glass and a protractor comparing them all. Some of them may be similar, but in reality their flight to the ground creates an infinite number of possibilities, while their fall creates even more. Each crystal binding to the last until a snowflake is born. I sit here now watching millions of snowflakes falling to the ground, safe in the assumption that each one had their own journey and as such are different in some way to each other.
If you think about it, we too are snowflakes. Our journeys are each unique, some more subtly, and some as different as life and day. Many people try to apply their point of view to others and in the process lose the ability to understand how another person is thinking or even comprehending a simple bit of moment, or a seemingly innocent reaction.
There are people who react with peace at all times, lost in the thoughts that there is always a peaceful way, and that love can conquer everything.
There are those that are spiteful and try to manipulate with hate, deceit, and pain. These people always see the bad in everything, and in the process often release the bad in themselves.
There are others who are mixes and matches of both, seemingly a positive and a negative, and they too are often unpredictable.
I find that balance wins out as the most well rounded people. Those who can walk both sides but know they are doing so and realize that everyone is unique and in the process listen. I can think of no greater power than the art of listening, and truly hearing another, and in the process learning more and more, and perhaps in that lies understanding.
I knew someone once that spoke on the phone with me often. As they did I listened and occasionally interjected, but listened more and more. One day after talking they asked, what I liked. I said I liked to listen and understand, and they paused for a moment then kept talking. Their need to let loose and my ability to listen worked well for a while.
Funny, life is full of twists and turns.
So as the sun sets on another day, consider well before you speak how another person has traveled through this thing called life. Realize we are all wonderful snowflakes and crystal dreams of the people you may think we are, and listen often so you can truly know before you speak. Remember, that sometimes a persons life may be so different from your own that your expected result may well be the difference between night and day.
Sleep sweet, enjoy life, and listen each day to wonderful people, and keep learning, no matter what…