Do You Hear What I Hear?

I have resurfaced after four months of intense study and writing in preparation for a teleconference talk I gave mid-December.

I had never given an hour-long talk before. I had given very few talks of any length or kind. When I accepted the offer to speak, it was not because I believed I had an hour's worth of words in me, and it wasn't because I felt confident about my ability to create and offer a talk. My willingness came from two things. One, I had been going deeply into a practice of listening and I thought it might be helpful for others. Two, I knew that this would be a good stretch for me.

The months of practice and preparation were intense and beautiful. I am grateful for the fact that I had the time to invest in such a life-changing experience.

I named my talk, Do You Hear What I Hear? It was about "pure listening." I see pure listening to be not only a practical skill in our world, especially in these times, but also a practice that helps to reveal our natural essence. 

My definition of pure listening: 

Pure listening is putting down our agendas, our need to be right, our need to be anything, opening ourselves to the fullness of life. We open to receive not only the words of others, but also the sensations in our bodies, and the messages from our environment. 

We receive these messages purely, as they are offered, without piling on our opinions and reactions, listening to what shows up in the moment. And this listening happens through our whole being.

I often refer to listening as whole being pure listening because we receive messages through all of our senses. So, when I speak of pure listening, I'm not limiting the listening to just the hearing of sounds through our ears. 

French philosopher, Jean Klein said it much more succinctly when he said, "Listening has no center, it is multi-dimensional welcoming.” 

If you would like to listen to my talk, you can do that here: