Today I am in gratitude for the gift of presence, the gift of deep listening, the gift of witnessing, of acknowledging.

Some people just have it. They are with you, they hear you, and you can exhale because you know they understand. They are miracle workers. They meet you exactly where you are with no advice, no suggestions, nothing but their walking in your shoes, and understanding you.

I think it’s a life skill to be honed for sure, to be practiced. It’s a holy practice, to honor someone with your gift of truly understanding. I’ll be honest, when I need it, I try not to lean into my people for it too much. One of my favorite gifts is the way my people don’t race ahead with their thinking how they will respond to what I am saying. Just sitting with me heals me.

I have been gifted with listening teachers in my life. Frederic Hudson from the Hudson Institute, Jim Bolton from Ridge Training, Wilson Learning, Co-Active Coaching, HeartMath®, even a coaching class at Wells Fargo. So I have this beautiful toolkit of listening practices. I’ve been thinking, would anyone like to learn some listening practices? I’d love to share. You know the saying, to really learn something, teach it.

And maybe, just maybe, if we practice listening and presence, not judging, not solving, just honoring – we can create a little world with a way of caring that honors the soul, the truth of what’s on someone’s heart.

I’m not a master, yet I’m not a beginner…I’d love to share some practices if it resonates with you. Message me, and I’ll create my very best sharing of this art I love to be on the receiving end of, into some kind of workshop.

Thank you to everyone who listens to me, I am in deep gratitude of the gift, you make my world better.

With so much xo,

Jill