Come Sit With Me: Hearing vs Listening

by Judy Gerard

It is quite possible for me to hear you, the sound of your voice and even your words, and still not be listening to you. True listening is difficult. We all know when we are being listened to, and we feel honored and valued.  We also know when we are not being listened to, and when that happens we are demeaned and feel we have no significance.  We are wounded. Hearing is a function of the hearing organ, while listening is the result of a desire of the heart. When we are able to listen with the heart, we connect on a level beyond the spoken word.     

 

True listening requires a sincere desire to connect with the other person...body, mind, spirit...then making the choice to offer our undivided attention to them and receive whatever they  may wish to communicate. Even so, there are times when we do truly wish to tune in to the other person, and yet our will o’ the wisp minds jump track and our attention wanders, if only briefly.

 

Several years ago a friend and I, both committed to learning to listen well, became intrigued by this phenomenon.  We decided to count the times in a one minute period when our attention wandered while we were attempting to listen intently to another person.  We found that although we were still hearing the words on some level, we were sliding in and out of the deeper connection an astonishing number of times in even one minute.

 

Listening, like many other things, can be improved over time with practice and an earnest desire to do so.  We can learn to listen to one another with openness and sensitivity... mind to mind...heart to heart...spirit to spirit. And when we are able to offer the hospitality of our entire being to another being, we move together into a realm beyond mere words, where we may simply sit together in silence and listen.

 

Come Sit With Me...

 

             ...let us sit together in the blessedness of silence that is around us and within us

   ...let us gaze together at the wonder that is around us and within us

              ...let us touch together the beauty that is around us and within us

              ...let us taste together the sweet smell of the air that is around us and within us

              ...let us experience together the mystery that is around us and within us

               ...let us listen together to the unspoken words around us and within us

              ...let us welcome together that place beyond words that is around us and within us

              ...come sit with me.

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