Then I said that I’ll be writing my bit on Listening, I didn’t know that it was going to be an intense inner journey for me. I started feeling that I was rededicating myself to ‘listening deeply’. Many questions started percolating in my mind. The answers we can say lie in an evolving consciousness, not one that is ego driven, but one that cultivates a capacity for deep listening.
It has been my passion for the last twenty years to help parents listen to their children and vice versa too. I believe we have this innate capacity to listen and to cultivate listening, it can be a life process though (considering the distractions we have generated for ourselves). It would create wonders if we listen with more intentionality, more awareness, and more heart. It really is an intrinsic facet of evolving consciousness. It impacts all dimensions of living. There’s no way we can develop intimacy, deep connections, collaborations unless we are listening.
Instead of listening to understand we listen to reply. The focus is on us. In genuine mindful listening the spotlight moves to the other person. We then listen to not just what’s being said but also to what’s not being said. We listen not just to words but to what’s behind the words. We listen to the underlying emotions, feelings, and needs. We hear the human being behind the words.
We can do this by bringing to consciousness what hijacks our listening. To make a shift we need to catch our patterns and rework our old habits.
We see humans violating each other at all levels resulting in senseless conflicts. Listening deeply reconnects us, makes us care. May we continually develop a ‘listening presence’ and may it bring us joy, connection and happiness.
