Meditate to Cultivate Deep Listening
Picture yourself amongst the trees as the breeze picks up beyond the forest... As this vision builds in your mind, notice how still your body becomes in order to hear the branches catch the wind overhead. To hear the sounds deeper into the forest, notice the deeper level stillness your body falls into; the shoulders drop; the body relaxes to find balance... Even your breathing becomes deeper, more calm... Your mind is so still that it's removed from judging the direction or source of the wind, you are simply still to hear it. To FEEL the sounds of nature.
Listening deeply to others for the sake of FEELING their expression produces a healing environment for all involved. We have to remember that not everyone has the same understanding of how to use language to communicate as effectively as they wish to. So, when those who are listening become still to FEEL the sensory expression traveling into the body through the sense of sound... We can begin to interpret and understand each other on a deeper level.
Meditation allows us to practice becoming still to hear and to feel our own inner truth... fine tuning our ability to perceive the subtleties of the world within us. As this ability strengthens, our grace to listen deeply to others grows too. How might this kind of deep listening change our experiences? Our relationships with each other? Taking judgement out of the equation... simply to hear what is being felt. To find common ground.
If you were to be heard for all that you felt, without judgement, what might you express openly? What might you have the courage to share without hesitation? How good would it feel to be able to interpret your inner world, conveying your truth with ease, and being received with an equal sense of grace? What might we achieve together through this kind of deep listening?
It starts with the Self. Cultivating the ability to become more and more still to hear yourself clearly and then living as the example so that others experience the goodness that comes from receiving this type of deep listening. When we experience an effortless generosity of this kind from others, we become inspired to do the same-- so as you listen deeply to others, trust that your practice is making a ripple effect that extends beyond that moment. Motivating others to reproduce this goodness.
Drop silently into your meditation practice, one moment of stillness at a time; bring the insights of your practice into your lived experience; be rewarded by the product of your living example.
Love and peace to you, my friends!
-Ash
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