My Word Of The Year
What do you make of seeking 'the truth in our opponents’ error, and the error in our own truth?' Can you tell a personal story of a time you were able to deepen your insight by listening, closely and bravely, to an opposing view? What helps you to invite surprise into your life?
If you re-arrange the letters of the word "listen"...these same letters spell the English word "silent." A good way to remember a key aspect to listening.
Thank you so much for bringing to our attention the importance of listening. It reminds me of the value of listening not only with our ears, but also with our body language, our facial expressions, our minds, our hearts, and our overall attentive yet noninvasive presence. To be and do this feels like a practice and artform whose ultimate gift is to create a safe space for another to speak and to be heard, which is to be seen and known. I'm not sure we can give or receive much greater a gift than that. To listen so wholeheartedly requires the discipline to withold one's own opinions, solutions and answers, to consider those of another, and to dwell in the space of uknowning inbetween where the two meet and often begin a new and much needed conversation - with or without words. New dialogues born out of listening! Count me in! Thank you again for the great post and inspiration for the New Year!
"It’s long past time that we quiet our animal spirits." In my truth, it is those very spirits that humble us and help us to listen, to all that is around AND within us. It is long past time that we call all that we wish to silence and separate from, "animal". It is the very act of silencing that prevents true hearing because while we are busy telling ourselves that our inner "animal" must listen, that we are not actually listening. What I have discovered is that it is precisely my inner soft animal spirit that is most intrinsically connected with the common needs of all beings, no matter the form their bodies or minds present. And until I fully feel that connection to our common needs, I am only hearing the story I have about the story I hear.
