Tiny yogi lesson.
“Most people do not listen with the intent to understand; they listen with the intent to reply.”
-Stephen R. Covey
We are a culture of non-listeners. We are constantly bombard by the sights and sounds of media. Constantly comparing, constantly competing. Constantly not hearing what our loved ones are really saying because of our own internal monologue blabbing away. When we stop hearing what people are telling us, we stop empathizing.
Open your ears.
Close your eyes, take a few deep breaths and open your ears.
Your strategic mind says "how do you open your ears? You can't do that." But your mind is wrong (it's wrong about a lot) so just open your ears and let the sound pour in.
It helps if you focus on one sound first - open yourself to that sound and then slowly open yourself to all the sounds going on around you allowing them to pour in.
What's it like?
It takes a little bit to hush your mind and really start to listen, but I find myself feeling so much more present and grounded when I do this. Even if it's for less than a minute. What if we were able to do this when connecting with other people? To stop our internal babbling and let their voices pour into our ears. To be present with them, to really hear.
“Being heard
is so close to being loved
that for the average person,
they are almost indistinguishable.”
-David Augsburger
xo
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