Proverbs 15:31; “If you listen to constructive criticism, you will be at home among the wise.” (NLT)
Back in my college days I wasn’t the best student in the world but I got pretty good grades. Getting me to sit still for an hour was not an easy task and then expecting me to do something like listen and absorb the material was totally outside the realm of possibilities. But, for some reason, there were a select handful of classes that I not only attended but I listened and took notes. Those classes involved subject matter that interested me. Classes like Disease, Psychology, Religion, Logic, Physiology; they all interested me and in turn I got a lot out of those classes.  The bad news is the other 50 or so classes that I took during my college career didn’t interest me so much.  (That probably had something to do with my ADHD.)
In my years of working with people there is one thing I’ve always noticed and that is when the person is ready to learn they are so much easier to teach. Maybe you’ve heard the saying; “when the pupil is ready, the teacher appears.” One of the keys to success in life is being teachable or as I like to say “help-able.” A critical key to change and improving is not only seeking out wise counsel, but to listen. Â
In order to create real change and improvement we must seek help from others that tell us what we need to hear instead of what we want to hear. Let me repeat what I just wrote…in order to create real change and improvement in our lives, we must seek help from others that tell us what we need to hear instead of what we want to hear…i.e. “constructive criticism” as noted in the Proverb above.
Back in 1987 when I was in early recovery I sought out the toughest, most direct and yet successful recovering alcoholic I could find to be my sponsor. I didn’t want him but I knew I needed him because my butt was not only in a ringer, but I honestly had no faith that I could abstain from drinking and/or drugging for the rest of my life.
This thought came to me this morning as I was thinking about how many people I have tried to help over the years that simply were not in a “help-able” frame of mind. They didn’t want to hear what I had to say, so they would move on to another person and then another person and then another person; seeking, searching and hunting for someone to say what they wanted to hear.
If you are in search of help for anything, go to someone who has a proven track record of winning in whatever it is you are trying to improve upon.  Understand he or she may not tell you what you want to hear. But only hearing what you want to hear is a good way of guaranteeing you will do what you’ve always done.Â
P.E.A.C.E.
