Episode 105 - Ears to Hear
Listening is an act of the heart. It takes time and patience to listen and be a container for another person. It also takes a certain level of inner surrender and openness. We all have someone in our lives who talks a lot or even rambles, making it challenging to want to listen. We also have difficulty listening to people with different views or opinions. Sometimes we are distracted or in a hurry and don't take the time to pause and listen. But everyone wants to be heard. In this episode we share our blocks to listening and our experiences of ‘having ears to hear’ another, especially the still, small voice within.
NOTES
Since we have two ears and one mouth, we should listen twice as much as we speak
Listening is an act of patience and love
It can be challenging
A spiritual practice
Everyone wants to be heard
Really heard, gotten, understood, accepted
Listening begins in our closest relationships:
Parents and children
Spouses
Bosses and employees
We know how to listen. As children, we learned by listening:
•How to talk
•What the rules and boundaries are
•The ideas we hold about ourselves
But very few of us learned how to listen with an open heart and mind
Instead we focus on our judgment or what we are going to say next or our mind is on something else, or….???
Listening is an act of the heart – it takes time, patience, inner surrender and openness
From The Message Bible, "ears to hear" is translated as “Are you listening to me? Really listening?“
Are we listening to Source? Because prayer is talking to Go…and listening to God. Good listening reflects our relationship with God (Source/Higher Self)
Dialogue and Inquiry
What/who do you avoid listening to and why? Who do you need to listen to now?
What blocks your willingness to listen?
Are you feeling a need to be heard?
Tell us your favorite story about listening - either being listened to or listening to another. What have you learned through or about deep listening? How is this spiritual work?
Is there a connection between your willingness to listen to others and your willingness to listen to Spirit?
Closing Thought
One with Spirit, I open my heart. I set aside my work and other distractions to actively listen with my heart. When judgments arise, I let them go. I calm the voice in me that wants to interrupt, make a point or start a disagreement. This is God's work - God in me listening. I trust that I will be guided to speak when it is my time to do so. As I listen with my heart, I enter into honest relationship. I open myself to learning and loving in a new way.