Listening With Your Heart    

By Deborah Ferris

Published in Around About Bayham, July 9, 2009

 

In today’s high tech world there are newer and faster gadgets and technologies always coming on stream to help us communicate with each other.  We can access everything from the latest computers and cell phones to social networking internet sites.  Yet with all these new ways to communicate, we may find that a fundamentally “old-fashioned” way of communication with an added facet can give us something deeper and more meaningful.  What I’m referring to is listening, not just ordinary everyday listening but listening with your heart.

 

Real listening involves patience and genuine caring for yourself and others.  Real listening tells the other that you respect them.

 

To really listen we need to be fully present, attentive to what the other is saying.  In this deep kind of listening we also reflect back the essence of what the speaker has told us.  This gives the other the feeling that we really care to understand them and thus they feel heard.

 

Deep listening enhances our relationships with others.  In fact it can be healing to be listened to with genuine love.

 

We can also practice listening to ourselves with love and compassion.  Sitting quietly and following the breath we can even open ourselves to hearing the inner wisdom that lies deep in our hearts. 

 

Why not explore heart-centered listening.  Experiment with it.  You will discover that it can make a difference in your life and in the lives of others. 

 

Deborah Ferris is a Certified Hypnotherapist & Reiki Master/Teacher.

She can be reached at (519) 688-9282.