Owning it; Listening to Relieve Suffering

I made a new friend this last weekend.
We just met and spent 5 hours talking non-stop, and only stopped then because the outside world was waiting and I needed to attend to it.

I try to lend a good ear when someone needs it (often that lending an ear is because I need it!). And hope that my learned analogies do not derail someone from their own path.
I know I have almost always 'done it wrong the first time', and thus have experience in many facets of this existence.

Listening is one of the best ways for us to show compassion to others.
When someone is talking to us, we should take our eyes off our screens. Close the laptop lid/set down our phones/pause the television/close the book/etc. so that we can look at that person and give them our undivided attention.
This will mean more than any words of wisdom or comfort or hard truth that we can give them.
Listening is the best gift.

Ask any counselor!
(hopefully they would agree with me, but if they don't, then their experience as a professional has been different than mine as a completely non-professional listener)

If we can give up our moments of indulgence to provide another with our full attention then we are making a great leap forward on the path of responsibility, or 'owning it' as the title of this post says.

Responsibility does not only mean owning up to our mistakes, but honestly taking control of our lives.
Mindfulness gives us another key to that door of many locks on the wall(s) that we have built around ourselves while we were busy running around shouting "I! I! I!" and "Me! Me! Me!"

This life isn't about me. It's about everyone else.
I am merely a supporting character.

If we can establish this as our own mindset, and boy, is that ego going to have a fit with this, then we can do anything.
The stress of being number one falls away.
We have backup, because the supporting cast is legion!

Let everyone you come across feel like they are the lead character in this play we call life.
Hod them up, lend them your ear, smile.

We are all in this together.