A friend of mine reached out to me about a young man in trouble. This young man had suffered years of abuse and neglect from his father and was greatly in trouble. He had faltered to drug addiction, been through numerous failed relationships. He trusted no one and was convinced that everyone was out to get him. When I was introduced to him he had a hateful glare, encompassed by an egoistic attachment to the rejection he had endured. Everything that I had said to him initially, regardless of the unconditional compassion shown, was met with disdain and, at times, vicious retort. I held in my own intuition the kind of understanding that someone who had also suffered abuse from his father could have. Half way through the conversation, after he had evaded questions regarding his experiences with his father, he rendered "Do you really think that my father could have caused all of this?!" This opened the gateway into a banter that ended with the young man in tears. The conversation ended with "thank you. I never had a man, a father, really listen to me and actually cared." He agreed to commence psychological treatment and to write a long overdue letter to his father. How the story ended from there is at your own creative resolve.

We are born in a comfortable fluid like existence that can only be described as blissful. In this way, it is no mystery as to why children are impacted the most by the maternal nature in front of them. From there we are handed a name, often religion and politics, along with any unresolved business that our parents are holding onto. as adults we often display no insight into the effect our actions and verbalizations have upon our youth. My message would be to take the time to learn what active and compassionate listening is. It will make your affect on the children what could be the difference between life and death...