Julian Summerhayes

“You mustn’t wish for another life. You mustn’t want to be somebody else. What you must do is this:
“Rejoice evermore.
Pray without ceasing.
In everything give thanks.”
I am not all the way capable of so much, but those are the right instructions.”
― Wendell Berry, Hannah Coulter

“I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”
― Maya Angelou

Perhaps the rubric should read: 'Meaning-full conversation'.

I'll leave you to decide.

But one thing I'm certain of — from first-hand experience — is the dearth of deep, reverent and (often) important conversations.

Of course, it could be me. 

No, no. It is me!

Very few people want to engage in anything other than superficial, often banal conversation for fear of getting into a heated debate or, worse still, a drag-down, vitriolic argument. 

I see that. 

I honestly do. 

In fact, it's happened too many times where I've been so passionate to persuade the other person of something meaningful I've not bothered: 

a) to listen to them;
b) to shut up on cue; and
c) I've raised my voice and used profanity, thinking I might make myself heard. 

It got me nowhere. 

How stupid, eh!

Perhaps I'm learning the hard way that to have a meaningful conversation requires not just empathy but deep grace, love and affection not only for the other person but for my own delicate soul. 

Yes, that's in the mix as well — my soul.

I need to listen to what it's trying to tell me, which means keeping quiet and not always being troubled out loud.

Put it this way. There isn't a day that goes by where I don't wake up with some burning issue attacking my senses. Yesterday, it was the absence of faith; heaven knows what it will be today. 

...cutting through the spiritual bullshit.