Listen With Your Heart

This morning I have come across two items that connect the saying "Listen with your heart." The first was while reading the History of Relief Society. At the end of the short article was the question "What Can I do?" followed by  two more questions:

1. What can I do to help the sisters I visit receive the gift of charity?

2. What can I begin to do this month to help share a righteous future for myself? For my family?  For others?

What great questions! It means in order to put this into action I will have to think about what I can do and then put it into action.


Then a little later I picked up my latest issue of the Toastmaster magazine and saw the Viewpoint article from the International President Pat Johnson called "Listen With Your Heart." There at the very beginning was a quote from LDS author and motivational speaker Stephen R. Covey from his The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People book.
The quote follows the Relief Society questions well:
Empathic listening involves much more than registering, reflecting, or even understanding the words that are said. Communication experts estimate that 10 percent of our communication is represented by the words we say, 30 percent is represented by our sounds and 60 percent by our body language. In empathic listening, you listen with your ears . . . with your eyes and with your heart. You listen for feeling, for meaning. You listen for behavior. You use your right brain as well as your left. You sense, you intuit, you feel.

So what does that have to do with the two questions I came across when I was reading the RS history this morning? Everything. If I am a daughter of my Heavenly Father and really want to accomplish the two questions, I will need to listen more carefully to what is being spoken to me by my family, by others, and especially by the Holy Spirit. As Jesus Christ is out mediator with our Heavenly Father so is the Holy Spirit our mediator when we need to be impressed of others needs. I hope I can listen with my heart empathy.

James and Ashley left for Hong Kong and then on to her parents about two weeks ago. It was very hard to think of them being so far away. I am so pleased that we all could spend Thanksgiving together at Brian's.

James and Ashley's new adventure will separate them for the next six months. James will be in Australia for pilot training with Cathay Pacific and Ashley will spend the time with her parents in Taiwan. I am hoping that during that time, James will be able to visit her and I understand she will be able to visit him one time. These are a lot of changes for a newly wed couple. They will spend their first anniversary apart. I hope they can think of special things to do for each other even when they are apart.

I have a dilemma every second Tuesday of the month now. I have both Toastmasters and Quilt Guild. Which one will benefit me long term? I wish I were two people, I could attend both and gain knowledge from each, as it is, that is not the case. If Toastmaster met in Roseau I would be able to attend both as our meetings are usually over by eight, but we go to Warroad so I don't get back to Roseau until nearly nine. I guess I will have to alternate! That means that this time, I will be going to Quilt Guild!

I completed my first wall hanging and did a stitch in the ditch on it. I had planned to give it to my sister-in-law, but it has hockey on it so it will not have much meaning to her. I will just have to make another one with a snowflake on it for her. Yup, it was suppose to be a Christmas gift, she will just have to get it when it is completed.