DAY 28 Feb. 26: The thought for today is LISTENING. Can you stop what you are doing and thinking, and take time to truly listen to the feelings behind someone’s words to you? Being fully present for the conversation and interested in what that person is saying is a practice of nonviolence.

A component of Marshall Rosenberg's "Nonviolent Communication" involves listening with compassion. The listener attends fully to the speaker's words, while sensing the feelings and needs beneath the words. The listener is simply fully present, not trying to "figure out" what the speaker is needing, nor trying to "get it right." If I can listen to you with compassion, it is usually only a short time before you listen with compassion to me.

Today: I will be fully present to each conversation I engage in, and listen longer than usual - and with more patience - to what others are saying. I will give the other person my full attention, because nothing else really matters. I will look directly at the person who is speaking, without thinking about other things.