Something people have been saying to me in many different ways has finally clicked: When you take a person seriously, they learn that they matter and they take themselves seriously.  When people listen to what you say, they are showing you that what you say matters, that your words have meaning and power.  You grow more sensitive to your inner voice, no longer unimportant and wrong, and find it's telling you what you need all the time - and when you listen to it, you find it's usually right, especially as you get better at it, and things like happiness and contentment and success are no longer so nebulous and unobtainable.  Look at you! Self-sufficient and powerful. 
I tend to regard things children say as whimsical, and to disregard things my peers say, replacing it with my own errant suppositions, and I think it's not a coincidence I have a history of flippantly regarding my own abilities and decisions.