Why should you listen twice as much as you speak; because you have two ears and one mouth? Perhaps, so. This is what my intuition taught me;
When you speak, you only consolidate what you already know. But when you listen, you receive something new.
Whether it’s just an opinion, an idea, a view, perspective or fact, truth, knowledge, experience, insight, we always learn something new when we listen. The Bible says, “at the mouth of two or three witnesses, a fact is established.” (Matt 18:16, 2 Cor 13:1, Deut 19:15). That means even if you’re listening to what you already know, you establish it. And who doesn’t love confirmation?
The more you speak, the more you expose your ignorance.
When you speak for long, instead of expressing your knowledge, you rather expose your ignorance. The Bible says, “the more you talk, the more likely you are to sin. If you’re wise, you will keep quiet.” (Prov 10:19). That is not to say that keep your ignorance to yourself. But when you bubble on and on, everybody tends to naturally lose interest in what you’re saying. That is a good sign that you should probably stop there. Communication involves listening to each other. So sometimes, ask your statements in question form and you would learn something new.
Listening is the foundation of connection.
Have you ever stopped to listen to birds tweet? Do you remember how you became friends with so-and-so person? Have you ever fallen in love with a song so much that you play it over and over? The underlying question is, how did you connect? By listening. And the more you listened effortlessly with the ears of your heart, the more you connected. This is because when we listen, we become vulnerable enough for the heart to connect directly.
Listen to the sermon. Listen to your parents. Listen to your tutors. Listen to nature. Listen to good music. Listen to trusted friends. Listen to yourself. Listen to God. And by doing so, you not only learn something knew, you connect. This is true humanity; A childlike vulnerability that make us connect with our inner self, humanity, nature, and the divine. See how listening is such a sweet loving and important thing in our humanity. Remember; be quick to listen and slow to speak.
My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry,
James 1:19 NIV
I love you ❤
