Listening: Innate Trait or Learned Skill

Like so many things we take for granted - listening really seems to be on the top of the list. Is it a craft that is honed and tweaked? Or just an innate trait that cannot be expanded? Whatever or wherever it evolved, each individual needs to check their level of skill and explore ways to increase this vital survival tool.

Teenagers seem to lack this basic communication devise. Why; would be a question of the ages when even our most esteemed wisdom seekers seem to lack the answer. Strategically chosen words, tones and volumes don't seem to have an impact - therefore we are left with frustration and dismay.

Some words do seem to penetrate the electrons firing within - seen in stages of succession. Like the athlete who maintains his skill through practice, so too should the behavior of listening be charted.

A Blanket of Quietness

Peaceful snow. It creates a calm feeling - yet also energizes the child within. Memories of sledding, snow ball fights, the bunny hill and angels in the snow....a time to re-live the seasons gone by.

Laughter and cold, hot chocolate, frozen fingers and toes. Wet clothes hung on the radiator, newspapers underneath catching the melting snow. Shoveling sidewalks and driveways as the flakes continue to multiply. Large mounds of powder piled high enough to jump from, and at times soft enough to fall through. Time stood still as creating another was the agenda at hand.

After hours of play, the accumulation presents itself as a opportunity for earnings. How much should you charge for that walkway or driveway? Five dollars was fair - and ten was a windfall. Yet remembering kindness to the neighbor who could not afford either wages or labor.

The serene city, the usual sounds are muffled allowing the echo of laughter to filter through. And tomorrow will awaken to daily routines that need extra layers of clothes and time. All to incorporate for the blanket of quietness.

Where Do You Begin?

My heart desires to write. Life, lessons, people, thoughts, emotions; unleash the feelings so long kept inside. How do you bring them to the surface? How do you label them? Fit them into a nice little package for the world to see and make sense to all that absorb the content. Always a small voice, somewhere, everywhere, telling a story.

Adoption vs. Purchasing

"He is your friend, your partner, your defender, your dog. You are his life, his love, his leader. He will be yours, faithful and true, to the last beat of his heart. You owe it to him to be worthy of such devotion." Anonymous

Very few can resist the wag of a puppy's tail. Adorable and cuddly they spur emotion in our hearts immediately. All to often dog breeders, and most notoriously puppy mills, rely on that emotion so that their business will flourish. This creates the cycle of over-population, not only in our nation but many other countries as well. Learning to be an informed and responsible pet owner can help elevate part of this growing problem. Pet overpopulation is tremendous, but it can be solved if each of us takes just one small step, start with not allowing our animals to breed and looking at the alternative to purchasing: adoption.

Do you really know where that puppy at the pet shop was born? Most people do not realize that when they go into a pet store, more times then not those puppies on display have been shipped in from a puppy mill. Even some so called 'breeders' who may display a great website of rolling green lawns and playful, family raised pups are truly puppy mill providers as well.

The Humane Society of the United States has a very informative website (http://www.hsus.org). I urge you to do some research, and hope people will realize that saving an animal from a shelter is both rewarding and heartwarming. The fear and sadness these animals experience can be reversed when they find a loving home.

There is no greater feeling than saving a life!