Listening

When was the last time you slowed down long enough to listen?

To listen to your body, to your self, to your soul, to your intuition, to your deep inner wisdom?

To listen to the world around you, to the birdsong, to the wind in the trees, to the rush of cool water, to the deep wisdom of the earth?

Most days we half listen, at best.

We half listen to the story our child is telling us as we focus on making dinner. We half listen to what the influencer on IG is saying while wondering how in the heck she keeps her house so tidy with 2 little kids. We half listen to our partner telling us about their stressful day while we scroll social or check our email. We half listen to a podcast while we schedule appointments or drive to work. We half listen to the guided meditation while we make a list of everything that needs to get done today.

This habit of half-listening is not really our fault. It is a completely understandable response to the world we are living in.

We are bombarded with stimuli every day, all day long. There is always something {usually many somethings} clamouring for our attention. Scroll a social app with the sound on and it’s a wall of noise assaulting your ears and 20 images flashing by every 10 seconds. Browse the internet and every site you land on has ads popping up spewing images and sound. It’s impossible not to tune out, to stop listening. We have to tune out just to get through the day. We physiologically cannot attend to everything that is present in our environment.

But the fallout of all of the stimuli and attention-grabbing media is that we rarely remember to listen to anything or anyone with our full attention anymore. And we are missing out because of it. We are missing out on deeper connections with our loved ones and we are missing out on a deeper connection with our own bodies.

In my work, I am always surprised by the number of people who have no real connection with their own bodies and the messages that they are receiving from them. People who are unable to describe the physical sensations of stress or joy and where these live in the body. People who have no sense of connection between the physical ailments they are suffering from and their emotional and psychological states. Much of my work is in listening, hearing, and asking questions to gently guide people toward a hearing and understanding of their own.

So let me ask you:

When was the last time you listened?

Really listened?

Listened to hear rather than to respond?

Listened to understand rather than to refute?

Listened to communicate with rather than to consume?

Listened with your whole attention?

When was the last time you were listened to in this way?

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If you would like to remember how to listen again and feel heard and held as you do, reach out, I’d love to be a guide.