I’ve been thinking more and more about listening lately. Not just hearing but truly listening. Listening with curiosity. Listening with presence. Four categories of listening that come to mind for me include:
– Self Listening
– Relationship Listening
– Spiritual Listening
Self Listening
Self Listening can be described as our attempt to make meaning by evaluating how current situations made up of incoming communications and sensory information compare and contrast against the elaborate story we currently believe about ourselves, so that we can either categorize them within the story or discard them because they don’t fit the story.
Relationship Listening
Relationship Listening can be described as our ego attempting to make meaning by evaluating how current situations made up of incoming communications and sensory information compare and contrast against the elaborate story you currently believe about your partner. Communicating with others is even more complex since there is the verbal and nonverbal components. Studies have concluded that 7% of any face to face communication you have with another is conveyed through the words of the conversation, 38% through tone of voice and inflection of voice, etc. and 55% is conveyed through non-verbal cues (facial expressions, gesture, posture, etc.) The non-verbal communication also includes the very deep, sub-conscious, energetic communications that are happening all the time between ourselves and others based on our energetic blueprint (which is essentially the sub-conscious part of the story we think we “know” about ourselves that is stored within our body’s chakra system).
Spiritual Listening
Spiritual Listening can be described as our attempt to make meaning by evaluating how current situations made up of incoming communications and sensory information about the divine, generally for the purpose of receiving answers to challenging questions about all the facets of our life and death, or to express gratitude for the life we are experiencing.