A Listening Ear

By Ellen L

I’ve found the most profound things that have happened in my life are not the meticulously planned five-star events, but the off-hand turn in a direction that led me into a dance that created a 20 year love story. The resistance to an idea that led me to a reception that made me feel like a part of a church I had long ago forsaken. A series of coincidences that I learned were much more than that.

The day of my husband’s funeral, I listened to a song on the radio as I was driving to get my hair done that inspired a song that I wrote that would be performed at his service. I smiled to myself on hearing it. I soon arrived at the hair salon and a young woman greeted me who I had never seen there before. She would be my hairdresser. We chatted and soon she was relating to me about her partner who she had known since high school and who a few years back had returned from the military. A chance question from me asked, “What is his name?” She said, “Sean Lessard”. He was my stepson’s brother. My husband’s stepson. When I told her who I was, we both cried. She knew my husband had died but we never met. Coincidence?

I heard it said that one of the hardest things for people is to be alone in a room by themselves. And that if people knew how to do that there would be a lot more peace in the world. No entourages of people or distractions to lead people away from what is really the most valuable thing of all, which is an inner voice.

I was talking to my stepson the other day and he shared with me a concern of his. I told him that when things come up like that a person should listen to that. There are things that prompt us to action that cannot come from anywhere else but from within. And I knew he would figure it out. He did not need to hear it from me, he knew what he needed to do. I just encouraged him to follow his own inner wisdom. He needed a sounding board, but he knew what to do.

Life became an adventure when I submitted to a listening practice and became open to the seemingly random coincidences that make life so compelling. Not like a one size fits all. Life tailor made for me just like it is tailor made for every other person on the planet.