Are your thoughts in good hands?

                   What exactly makes someone a good listener?? Is it the attentiveness of the eyes? Their body languages that gestures that they are considering your thoughts? No. It is simply their response. Responses jusitfy understanding. You see what you are saying in another person's eyes. In general, it distinguishes the hearers from the listeners.
                  I was speaking to a friend and found that she wasn't listening to me..the hard way. She stared deeply into my eyes, nodding her head, but when I asked her a question, she stared at me aimlessly. Being a good listener bears just as much weight as being a good friend. They are both held in high regard because they make each other what they are. But there's a catch, it takes one to be one. If you want someone to be a good listener to you, then you have to have the courtesy to be a good listener yourself. Many people expect to be listened to but cannot enjoy that privilege because it requires them to rectify their own ways. Words spoken are like a privilege, and not everyone is selected to receive them. They are said to a selective few in the hopes that they will value these thoughts from the speaker. In my case, my thoughts weren't valued, they were ignored. So consider this reader, are your thoughts in good hands?

First Day, Last Week

        Endless summer nights that brought the sweetest of dreams are over and now time ceases to make people idle. A time that everyone has observed and yet children dread: School Re-Openings. The school year year has approached and is approaching for some, in a timely matter, but it asks a question annually to its attendees: Are you ready?
          Being ready does not simply entail the process of being prepared physically but it requires the rigor of being prepared mentally as well. The state of the mind trains the body to assess the daily complications. Many people begin and end school on the same foot, remaining steadfast in the pursuit of no going no where. Then, there are those who begin to move forward but limit themselves and their achievements because of laziness, an infectious disease amid young people. And last, but never the least, in our society, are those who are able to stand tall and move forward because they've allowed their mind to be their guide and not their emotions. Many times, when we lean on our emotions  they're the ones that hold us back the most. For example, let's say it's 12 in the morning. You've just finished all your assignments and after weeks of procrastination,you've come into grips that the assignment is due 7 hours from that time. What would you do?? Typically, sleep has already overcome you so you'd  say, "Let me take a "nap" and wake up "later on" to do it". The problem with this idea is that "later on" may not happen for as long as an hour before school starts. As a result, what you FEEL allows you to be off track in your goal.
              My advice to you, your first day and last week begins right now. Your first step and last trek through those halls you'll soon tread (or are treading) begins with what actions you decide to take right now. The hardest reality most people generally can't wrap their mind around is that your life is in your hands, ultimately.  So where you start is exactly where you'll finish: with yourself. Now back to the original question: Are you ready? The answer ultimately lies inside of the individual whether to merely live on emotion or thrive from intelligence (your mind).