Everyone has the innate desire and right to be heard and understood. I wholeheartedly believe that this right shall be granted at birth. From the very beginning, when a baby is born; they want to be heard and understood. They want to feel loved. I never understood this until I had become a dad. When a baby cries or fusses the parent knows immediately that their little one is trying to tell them something. It may be a diaper change, or that they are hungry for more milk, or perhaps they are cold or hot. These are all acts of communication in an effort to feel heard and understood. Rocking a crying baby at the wee hours of the night definitely has its teaching moments. It was during one of those long nights that I had a light bulb moment [One of many on this topic]: My son wants to feel heard and understood. He wanted to feel loved and cared for. He wanted to feel comforted so that he could fall asleep.
I have come to realize that this phenomenon can be explained mathematically (I am an engineer by trade) as simply “HEARD + UNDERSTOOD = LOVE”. Seems simple, but realistically, I have found it to be much more complicated and difficult. Who would have thought that hearing and understanding can be so complicated and difficult? I would have been the first to say that it wasn’t a big deal. But, this light bulb moment opened up so much of my life to me. Moments where I pleaded to be heard and understood; to moments where the people around me pleaded to be heard and understood. More embarrassingly, moments where I placed my need to be heard and understood above others needs to be heard and understood.
Imagine a world where all people felt heard and understood? Is it even possible on this earth? Perhaps this could only happen in heaven? But, more than ever I believe we are called to strive to ensure that the people in our circle or even better the people that we come in contact with are heard and understood. So that is my challenge to myself and to you as well.
