To be truly heard...

We humans are already like that, we have our stories, something happens to us and it's nice to have someone to tell the story to, to share it with. However, not everyone is lucky enough to be truly listened to and heard by others. If you have a story and you share it, if it's painful and the other party really listens to you, then after hearing it, you feel relieved, like half the weight has been lifted off of you. 

There's another kind of listening and that's where the other person is sort of holding space for you to say what you want and not judging you in any way, not analysing you, just lovingly sharing the space, their inner space for you. It could also be called as healing presence.

Have you ever had the experience that you might have been present to a person who was unknown to you, but who found himself near you and you needed to get something out of yourself, to be heard. And that's what happened, that person listened to you, didn't judge, didn't criticise, didn't drill down, just lovingly listened. Strange that the calmness of that person seemed to have passed over to you. There was nothing more to be done, just to listen. 

Something similar happened to me once, I experienced something that can't be called even remotely nice. It was hard for me to even begin to talk about it, but gradually I started and told my story. 

There were dozens of people who assisted me, but basically I never felt heard, there were always evaluations, analyses, criticisms, but I still didn't feel that I was fully heard. 

 It was only one day, with a person where I hadn't even counted on being listened to in this way, that I had this experience and something strange and hard to describe happened to me. The pain that I had carried in my chest for so long seemed to let go,release and love began to flow, a huge wave rolled over that had been buried long and deep. 

What actually happened, how is that possible?

I guess it was just that small yet big piece that I had been waiting for so long, to be truly heard.

Mirka