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What we experience in this world is a mirror of our own perceptions. There is no truth in any situation, just perception. When we expand our knowledge of a person/situation, we may change our perceptions. In fact, it’s the only place where we can learn and grow.

Listening is vital to learning and expanding our knowledge of a situation. Are we listening to respond, or do we listen to learn and grow? It takes courage to say “I didn’t see it that way”, “I’m sorry”, because there’s a comfort in believing we’re right. We never grow in comfort. Our ego is comfortable there, it’s its home, but our authenticity is seriously compromised.

We only ever grow in becoming comfortable with the uncomfortable. Listening is a skill we develop when we suspend our perceptions to hear the others perceptions of events. It is the only place we can grow and expand, and it moves us closer together rather than further apart. We never learned anything about ourselves or others when we believe our truth is absolute. There are no absolutes.

There Are Two Sides To Every Story QuoteRelating well with others requires us to suspend egotistical notions of who we perceive we are, and by truly respecting the others perception of events by listening to expand our knowledge of a situation. You never know, you might even become a kinder more relatable person. Its the only education worth pursuing. It’s the only place where we learn and expand.

There are two sides to every story. Become as interested in the others as you are in yours. And if you’re really listening and hearing, willing to expand and grow, you might even end up understanding how much of a gift the other was in your life. And you can congratulate yourself that you didn’t run away this time from facing where you were stuck in your own fearful perceptions.

Life has a funny way of representing us with what we need to heal. The other side of the story is exactly what we’ve been avoiding. Be brave, seek it out. Otherwise, it’ll come around again and again, and we’ll call it fate.