Something we are short of.

And the title of Nancy Kline’s book.

To think is really about having time to listen to our lives and what they are saying to us.  (It is also about listening to others and to our world, especially how these other voices are heard by, or play upon, our life.)

This gift of seeing the future is something available to all, though often we do not see how close we are to the edge of an incredible dance or venture, in which we interact and collaborate with others.  I love the subtitle of the Domino Project‘s End Malaria: “Bold Innovation, Limitless Generosity, and the Opportunity to Save a Life.”

So, we listen because we want to discern our emerging future – which is to say, Humans have the capability to shape the future.  And we listen to discern what prevents us living towards the life we are seeking.

Carl Jung proffered, “Everyone carries a shadow, and the less it is embodied in the individual’s conscious life, the blacker and denser it is.”  This shadow side of our lives is the one we do not prefer – for example, the active one will not be still, the still one will not act – but the shadow is still us and needs feeding and attention, else it will find its (often) unhealthy ways of meeting needs.

Time to think, to listen, allows the conscious me to lead, rather than be led by, the unconscious me* – which is always distracted by and hungry for something else.

Listening to our lives – wherever and however we choose to** – is what sets us free for the fuller and richer life, which has been described as autonomy, mastery of skills, and living for a purpose greater than ourselves, within a connected world.

(*Some doubt we’ll ever be able to say we have mastered or understood ourselves completely – I’m inclined to believe they’re correct, though I still pursue this because of the benefits I have so far known.)
(**An adventure in itself, figuring out how this might happen for us as opposed to someone else.)