one of the things that often occurs to me once i've been removed from the many distractions of daily life is how my ability to listen is directly related to how peaceful my heart & mind are. and while it's common knowledge that attentiveness increases as our level of distraction decreases, (and vice versa) it can be very difficult to assess our own level of distraction objectively. most of the time, we go through life addicted to thoughts and unaware of which ones are truly distractions - compelled into existance as a product of this addiction.