If you don’t know what you feel, you cannot ask to be understood. Sometimes even speaking is impossible, because you haven’t yet found the words for what lives inside. Or in the words of Carl Jung, “Loneliness does not come from having no people around you, but from being unable to communicate the things that seem important to you.”

Slowly, the music of real intimacy is replaced by the noise of logistics.

Listening, though, is harder than it sounds, far more than a passive act. True attention means resisting the constant pull of distraction, with our buzzing phones, our restless minds, our urge to redirect the conversation toward ourselves. It asks for patience with silence, the humility to withhold judgment, and the courage to sit with another... See more

Being received can be the most fragile gate, because it’s the one you cannot fully control. Does the listener have the patience, the emotional room, the courage to take in what you’re offering? Listening is an act of devotion, yet no one teaches us how to do it. Many of us fumble by rushing to fix, rerouting to ourselves, averting our gaze from the... See more