How often do you listen with your whole self? Listening with your body - you’re still, not fidgety. Listening without judgement - are you making faces during the conversation? Are you getting your back arched? Feathers ruffled? Listening with your eyes as well as your ears - are you noticing the body language used? Listening while trying to hurry the conversation along? Are you finishing sentences for the other person?
I know that I have done all of these. My worst ones though are finishing others’ sentences and making premature judgements. This is something I have been working on for a long time. And I think that for the most part I do ok, but if I am not mindful of listening, if I am not aware of where my mental state is, I too easily fall into my old habits. Therefore not a very good listener.
I bring this up as it’s something I think we all have to work on, one way or another. We are spending more time with our families and I think it’s easy to let true listening slide. And with Kung Fu, if we aren’t really present in our listening we just might miss a gem, some key piece of information that could possibly transform us. You just never know.
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