In what ways can I continue my path toward greater understanding?

To understand, I must be willing to listen. The words “I hear you” can be more powerful than the words “I love you.” How can you love others if you refuse to hear them? The origins of the word, obedience, are rooted in the willingness to listen.

To understand, I must be willing to see. My perspective is often limited by my personal and cultural blinders. A frequent phrase I used for years was “I only want what’s best.” Today, I realize that what I think is best is colored by my hopes, my fears, my personal dogma. Sometimes we only see what we seek; what we want to see.

To understand, I must be willing to stand under, to own my thoughts, my feelings and my actions. We all have baggage and we have to own it before we can let it go. Understanding starts with the self. The saying “Know Thyself” is key.

To understand, I must be willing to forgive. I need remind myself daily that life is for giving not for getting. I must ask myself daily. Are my thoughts and my actions life-giving or life-limiting? This question is so important because there is truly only One Life. We either lift it up or we shut it down with what we say and do.

To understand is to live mindfully instead of full of mind. Today’s quote from Muhammad Ali sums it up: “As long as I’m alive, I will continue to try to understand more because the work of the heart is never done.”