Before anything else: God loves you and really likes talking with you. He wants to hear everything you have to tell, and he also has good things to teach you.
Have you ever played with those toy radios, the walkie-talkies? They have a funny rule a lot of people don't know.
While you're holding down the button to talk, you can't hear anything from the other side. Nothing at all. The other person could be saying the most important thing in the world, and it doesn't get through. To listen, you have to let go of the button.
People are a lot like that radio. When we keep talking nonstop, there's no room left to hear what others have to say. And sometimes that's exactly where the tip was that was going to help us.
Today's verse says that the wise in heart accept good advice. And accepting is even better than hearing. Hearing is listening with your ear. Accepting is doing what was agreed.
It's kind of like this: if the teacher explains how to do the math problem and you hear it with your ear, but you keep doing it your own way, the problem stays wrong. Really listening means changing something afterward.
And here's the thing: letting go of the button is good with God too. We ask him for a bunch of things, and that's great. But afterward it's worth staying quiet for a bit, listening to a Bible story, and letting him talk to you.