Listen Up

Huh?

What did you say?

People don't listen.

I like to think we don't hear things, but the truth is, we - as a society - just don't listen.

Think about it. Do we listen to hear what the other person is saying or do we listen to hear when the other person is going to stop talking so we can respond?

In general, people are crappy listeners. Keep thinking. How many times have you said something and the next thing the person says is how it relates to them?

I read an article once about polite conversations. Not sure when this was or what the true intention of the article was (see, I wasn't listening - or paying attention), but I remember these points:

When someone tells a story, makes a point, etc - make TWO points about THEIR story before you tell your story on how the same thing happened to you.

If you've heard the story before, just go with it.

It's funny how people tend to bring the story back to THEIR life instead of listening to what is really happening. Yes, we want to share OUR experience with the story teller - it's hard not to chime in. But it's also a beautiful thing is life to HEAR what people are really saying.

There is a yoga class I take every week. Tuesdays at lunch time. The class is called Yin Yang yoga. Yin is seen as dark, passive. Yang is seen as light, active.

During the class - we move into a stretch position (all sitting or on our back) - THEN, you stay there for 5 minutes.

Yes, you are in some fold, some bend, some uncomfortable position for 5 minutes. It takes me about 30 minutes into class before I can actually "calm down" enough to listen.

You see, during that 5 minutes our instruction reads us "readings" about "centering yourself" or a passage from a Bible or a Buddhist reading. Truly it's "non-denominational" - meaning, it's about the moment we are in. Something to get you centered into something other than yourself.

I think of it as "church" with exercise.

The first 30 minutes of the class, when the instructor is speaking - when we are supposed to be listening - she will say something. Then, I'm off in my mind. Thinking about how that could parlay into my life or whom I should tell about what I just heard, or WHO KNOWS WHAT ELSE MY MIND IS THINKING.

But, I can tell you this - my mind is then NOT listening to the next few sentences. I'm busy thinking about how this effects my life.

Then at some point during the class, that feeling slowly melts away. I'm no longer thinking about what she is saying.

I'm stretching. I'm listening. I'm just being.

THEN, later on, something I heard while I was listening in class - well, it pops up in a situation. Wait, I think - I remember hearing something and how to apply it in this situation. I know how to handle it.

I was listening.