Hear them beneath their words

​Yesterday I heard someone describe the experience of having someone hear them beneath their words. They described this experience, with great emotion, as life-changing.

Most of us can hear words. We simply need parts of our brain to translate sound waves into words as they pass through the ears.

But for many of us, for many reasons, our words don't always say what we mean. They don't always say what we feel. Sometimes because we don't know how to say what we mean. Sometimes because we don't know how to - or want to - say how we feel.

Hearing me doesn't always equal knowing me. In fact, it's probably rarely the case.

The people who know me well, the people who know you well, they are the people who know your words are trying to say something but what you're really trying to say is likely beneath the words.

These are people who have brains that hear but also hearts that long to know. These are people who hear and dive in and not hear and walk away.

We live in a world that makes it easier than ever to hear because there are so many spaces within which to say our words. Some days it feels like there are just so so many words....

It makes it difficult to feel words. It makes it hard to hear beneath the words.

Hearing beneath the words requires us to pause. To hear words and wonder, to be curious, is there something more here than what I'm hearing. Are these words crying for help without crying?

Because there are a lot of people in the world crying out that we don't hear crying. We don't hear their tears because we only hear their words.

Tears often live beneath the words.

It's a gift to have someone in your life who is willing to hear you beneath your words. It can be life changing.

I think we all need that gift.

I think we can all BE that gift. It simply requires us to hear and then pause long enough to wonder and feel. Feel the feelings beneath the words. Because they are not always the same, the words and the feelings.

Words rarely move us to act, feelings will.

And feelings are easy to miss when we don't take time to hear beneath the words. When our hearts don't hear quite as well as our brains.

What's the old saying, we have two ears but only one mouth, so we should listen more and talk less. Well we only have one heart, too. But it's big. And right now the world needs our hearts to be bigger than ever.

So yes, keep hearing with those two ears. But maybe start listening a little more with that one big heart as well.