MARY GIUFFRE: A few weeks back, my sister ~ one of the wisest women I know ~ revealed something very inspiring. "I've entered this listening phase," she said. "I've come to a point where I just want to sit back and listen for a while."

Everyone wants to be heard and listening to others is something most of us don't do nearly enough of. Instead we spend time in our own minds during a conversation, formulating the next clever or witty response and not taking in the breadth and depth of the message being delivered. We often speak over each other in an effort to be included or inject our personal opinions, approvals or dissatisfaction at any pause, leaving no room for silence, so we don't connect with our hearts and absorb what another person is telling us.

The quality of the attention we receive often affects the comfort of our relationships and attentive listening occurs when we our engage emotions. Listening to spoken words is very different than hearing the deeper meaning and a sincere connection is only possible when we are totally present in our conversations. When we listen with our hearts, being considerate, attentive and concerned we allow ourselves to hear the feelings behind the thoughts and opinions of others so we truly understand their point of view.

We also hear our own true Essence though heart listening. Our conflicted thoughts are very often a product of ego, while our wisdom reflects the clarity of our Divinity and distinguishing between the two often requires the same attention and consideration required as when we listen to others. By filtering our thoughts through our hearts we come to recognize that nattering voice in our head and the joyful voice of our Spirit as two distinctly different things. Once we're able to hear that voice, we've discovered our own personal guru and we stop searching outside ourselves for answers.

Heart listening promotes a peaceful existence and you'll find your energies and the energy of everything around you shifts in the most positive way when you choose to really hear both your external and internal worlds.

I suggest we all work on talking less and listening more. It is a tremendous gift to others and ourselves that promotes elevated and heartfelt understanding.

I'll be quiet now...