“Wisdom is not in words, it is in understanding.” ~ Bowl of Saki, November 15, by Hazrat Inayat Khan
Happy Sunday!
I had a public meeting on a project this week.  The preparations and time leading up to these meetings are some of the most stressful parts of my job.  Even though I have a decade of successful meetings that I have planned and led I still am fearful that I will mess up.  To me messing up would be to embarrass myself by giving wrong information, to get argumentative, or to possibly embarrass someone there who is just trying to get information from me.
I have learned that prior to these meetings that I should consciously think about what my intention is – it is to provide the public with information about a road project.  I then ask the Holy Spirit to guide my words.  This week I considered whether I really needed to ask, I want to now move into the stage of just knowing it will be so.
My meeting this week was like all the past with regards to the audience.  Most people came in ready to be confrontational.  With experience I have learned the best methods to communicate the need for our projects and the impacts they will have with maps, photos, and report data.  Like meetings of the past most of the questions taken during the open public forum do not end up being about the project (evidence we made a good presentation of facts) but instead about broader public issues such as over-development, speeding, and general disregard for others (as evidenced by road rage).  So there are standard responses I give to some of these questions and others I just remain silent and let people speak.
When I got home that evening Peter asked me how the meeting went.  I said it was the usual questions and issues.  Peter’s response was “people just want to be heard”.  I agreed and added that Oprah says that all of the time too (I was looking for a reaction from Peter for my implying that he was in tune with Oprah but I was disappointed that he didn’t take the bait).
For several days this week the Sufi message from my morning email ‘Bowl of Sake’ have been about words and silence.  Hazrat Khan offered much wisdom on words losing their power the more they are spoken and that greater power lies in silence.
On Saturday the message was based on the quote I provided at the top of this blog. People just want to be heard, not like at my meeting where the individual just stands and speaks about issues unrelated to the subject at hand but communication where one is heard – soul to soul.
Hazrat Khan is offering that wisdom can be shared by few, perhaps even no words when the sharing is spoken from the heart.  To me speaking from the heart is seeing past all the cultural non-sense we tend to focus on to try to bring understanding to what our soul is trying to tell us through the feelings we feel.
Marianne Williamson says, based on her understanding of ACIM, that all things are moving toward fear or Love.  This is a good basis for my trying to express the understanding of the heart.  When I am trying to offer wisdom to someone I care about it comes down to awareness that their soul wants to move toward Love so it is feeling distressed by mis-perceptions that personality clouds over the soul – they are the usually three mistaken core beliefs: I am unworthy, I am helpless, I am unlovable.
Last weekend visiting my niece, she and her mother were disagreeing over the events that led to B_ having her current psychological issues.  I heard A_ blame school and family rough times, B_ didn’t agree saying it was something else.  I broke into their conversation and offered my Pollyanna story of my own self-awareness.  As I had written of my perception of children’s souls falling to Earth last Sunday it was at the top of my awareness giving me guidance.  I expressed my own experience of realizing my true self and that my adult pain and struggle came from just not being that person.  There was understanding in the room – silence that spoke to me telling me that they received what I said.
My personality likes all this support for being silent but I also know from my personal relationships that silence can also be hurtful and un-Loving when the other is looking for support.  I now listen to my heart and to that voice of guidance behind my right ear to know when to speak and what to say.  The words offered are usually brief.
And, there are also times, when the one I love is seeking a response or reaction, that I am guided to remain silent.  We all have our individual struggles with understanding that words from another will distract us from what we need to learn from turning inside of ourselves and listening to our own hearts.  I offer prayer to Source to speak a bit louder in their ear so my loved one won’t have to struggle so long on their lesson.
Namaste’
“When you stand and share your story in an empowering way, your story will heal you and your story will heal somebody else.” ~ Iyanla Vanzant