Quiet
Listening
“Deep
listening is a skill that creates a profound connection with other
people at the throat chakra and often leads to more compassionate
connections at your heart chakra.”
Swami
Saradananda (Chakra Meditation)
We
humans love to talk. Ever since we gave up communicating by hand
signals, and started mouthing off, we've been in love with the sound
of our own voices. And it's not just our voice we love, but just
sound in general. My friend, Harry, and I meet for coffee every
Friday afternoon. We've tried a number of coffee shops around town,
and settled on one called The Red Cat. We meet to converse about
Spirituality Group, the coming Sunday's topic, and possible sources
of information. Some Fridays, it's almost impossible to hear each
other speak. There are tables full of college students and people
doing business, multiple computers going at every table; in the
background, music plays, employees communicate orders to one another,
dishes clash, latte machines hiss and a flood of humanity comes and
goes. The louder the environment, the louder people talk to be heard
above it. Sometimes stepping outside onto the busy city street is a
relief.
We
who live in cities are simply assaulted by noise—it damages our
ears and our hearts. To counter this damage, we need to practice
silence for part of every day, and that includes shutting our own
mouths. Along with letter writing, one thing that seems to be
disappearing from our human interactions is simple listening. We have
forgotten that soul connections are formed by deep listening—with
the heart, and not just the ears. When we create silence to listen to
our own inner voice and to contemplate, we prepare ourselves to
interact with others in a thoughtful, meaningful way. We are less
likely to talk just to hear our own voices. Silence brings health to
our throat chakra, and listening with our full attention, opens the
heart chakra.
Today,
even in the midst of the holiday rush, let's take some time to be
silent. Let's rest our ears and our mouths—maybe even try a few (nice) hand signals! It'll be good for us—for our hearts, and for our
relationships.
In
the Spirit,
Jane
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