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Life Lessons #2: Listening
Life Lessons
Life Lesson #2: Listening
LISTENING
Your teachers always tell you to listen, your parents always tell you to listen? but stop for a minute and ask yourself: "Why? Why should I listen?"
Approach this question with an open mind? listening makes you smarter. Listening does not mean you have to believe all that you hear, or that you must use everything that others tell you. Instead, listening makes you more prepared to make decisions on your own. For example, it is a fact of life that peers are going to tell you that ditching class is cool. It is also true that your parents are going to tell you how missing school can negatively affect your life. Often times, young men stubbornly claim that these decisions are ones that they are big enough to make. However, it is only by listening that you hear both sides to a story, and can truly be in a position to choose right from wrong. You can learn what others have been through, how they won, and how they lost and ensure that you make the decision that's best for you.
Laird Hamilton (a professional big wave surfer, and married to Gabriella Reece) once said that if it wasn't for listening, he'd be dead by now. Growing up as the son of a professional surfer, he was often told how to duck dive under a crashing wave, how to stay hold his position deep inside a barrel, and how to paddle sideways after jumping off of a wave. Early in his life, Laird did not want to hear others tell him what to do. However, at the age of 16, Hamilton remembers his decision to listen to what others had to say. On his own, Hamilton decided that surfing was something he loved, and that he wanted to learn as much about the sport as he could. From that day forward, he made a conscious effort not only to hear the stories older surfers were telling, but also to listen to what they had to say. His goal was to truly understand what they were thinking and why they did what they did. That decision would pay off big time!
Eight years later, Laird was surfing Jaws off of the North Shore of Hawaii. He misjudged a wave, catching it too late to successfully drop down the face. He was immediately blasted off of his board, and tumbled down the face of the wave. Hamilton said that a story popped in his head, and as he was actually falling he remembered what he had heard about situations like this. A man had once told him of the tremendous power of these giantcrashing waves, and how a surfer could utilize that power by getting as close to the spot where the crest of the wave would actually crash into the ocean. The wave itself would push a surfer down into the water and out the back of the swell in a washing machine-like cycle, thus avoiding his being held under for minutes on end. Laird suddenly knew where he had to be, and guided himself to the bottom of the break. He was slammed by the huge wave, violently taken under water, and spit out the back up to the surface. Laird survived that scary day, and has gone on to conquer some of the world's biggest waves.
To this day, Hamilton credits the fact that he listened to what that man had said some eight years ago for the reason that he lived to see another wipeout. Who was the man that he learned from? His father. And how did he learn the tricks of how a wave breaks? By listening.
In the long run, you control your own destiny. Decide for yourself, "I am going to learn by listening." Do not just hear what your parents are trying to tell you, listen. Ask yourself why your parents would take the time to sit you down and try to communicate to you. Could it be that they have been in your shoes before, and perhaps have advice that you may want to consider? Definitely! Remember, listening only means that you are gaining knowledge. And by gaining knowledge, you are improving your abilities to make your own decisions. Try it for three days: When your parents speak to you, simply listen. Do not jump to quick judgments? and do not talk back? just listen. See if you can understand both what they are saying, and also why they are saying it. Then use their advice to make your own decisions. Make your parents proud by being smart enough to choose the right path.
www.lifeletics.com
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