A Kick In The Face or A Whisper

I have come accross two ways that God speeks to us. The first way is when He is whispering to you and you bearly can hear Him and you try to figure out if 1) if it is actually a whisper and not some random background sound from your enviornment and 2) if it is even God doing the whispering. The other way that God speaks to us is He skips over the whisper and kicks you directly in the face (this is of course with all of the love our Great and Mighty King has.....which is a lot). This is when you can't help but listen/know it's God talking to you. (You also can't help but get a concussion as well...) I would like to say that I spend my days seeking God's whisper and heeding what it says....but in reality I'm waiting for a boot to the face. It takes a lot for me to cetch onto things. Whatever I am trying to figure out either needs to be spelled out in bullet form or explained directly too me (pictures help). Beating around the bush just gets me confused. God knows this about me (especially since He knows everything). He knows that if He is going to whisper, my heart and mind are going to need to be completly still and quiet....which doesn't happen. But, the kick in the face method, though it works, sometimes is painful, well, usually is painful. (I can't recall the last time I was kicked in the face and it didn't hurt) Anyway...my rambling will end today by just asking...how do you listen to God's calling/voice? Are you a victim of boot-to-face lessons or have you developed a keen ear to God's voice and can pick out His whisper over the chaos of everyday life? I'm working on my hearing!