Andy Bradley - Closing the Compassion Gap

If we listen to each other & make sure we all feel heard in our work together, then perhaps we won't need to contrive engagement processes & formalise our interactions so much. We can be people who talk together as equals, who understand & value each other's contributions fully.

When I feel a bit crap in a moment, it's in being heard & connecting with someone who listens that I can step more lightly into the next moment. It's not about being sorted out or found an answer. Feeling simply listened to, that helps lighten the load. And it's enough just now.

Sometimes the solitude of grief is bewildering. A feeling of being cut adrift from all that I knew, from feeling understood, & being at ease. No place to go, no safe harbour. But it's not a place I miss, it's the relationship with the one person in my life who knew me completely.

Don't look too hard for the break in the clouds. Trust instead that blue skies will appear, passing by, & be so much brighter for being unexpected, edged by grey. It's not one or other, it's both. Love, despair. Sadness, joy. The one shapes the other, and keeps hope alive & real.

When we listen, we notice each other in new ways. When we listen in the spaces in between, we find appreciation of our commonalities & our differences. A blog on #SpacesForListening by @charlie_psych & @brigidrussell51 link.medium.com/3xyYYkk3Leb