Affirmations:
I listen to my heart and follow with joy.
I honor the voice for Love weithin me.
I listen to what others are saying beneath the words.
Everything is either Love or a call for Love.
I respond with forgiveness and always Love.
Are you listening?
If you listen, you will hear what is true for you.
If you listen, you will know what is in your heart.
If you listen, you will get what is on your mind.
What is important is that you listen.
What is important is that you know.
What is important is that you do.
What is important is that you be All You Are Here to Be!
Are you talking so loud, you cannot hear?
Are you avoiding listening, so you will not know?
Are you distracting yourself with worry and fear?
Are you willing to hear what is yours to do?
Have you given all responsibility to your parents and authorities in your life?
Do you sit back and let others make choices for you?
Do you pretend you are weak and meek and have no voice?
Do you enjoy playing powerless and in capable?
When we are willing to listen within, we can hear what is always best for us.
When we are wiling to listen to others, we hear what they think is best for them.
When we are willing to listen to the earth, we know what is best for our motherland.
When we listen to our bodies we can hear what is best for our well-being.
When we listen and know, we can choose to respect and respond accordingly.
When we listen and know, we can no longer pretend to be ignorant and ineffective.
When we listen and know, we can let go of resistance and allow the truth to be told.
When we listen and know, we can flow with what is best and have life be fun, safe and easy.
The obedient child may learn to listen to their parents, but forget to listen to themselves.
The submissive partner may honor their partners needs, but ignore their own.
The dependent person may listen to the experts and authorities, but neglect what their body says.
The healthy and conscious one can listen to all and honor what they trust within themselves.
We can listen and not hear.
We can hear and not trust.
We can trust and not follow.
We can follow and not remember to keep listening for the subtle changes in direction.
What life presents is the opportunity to be connected with ourselves in purpose and power.
Life brings us the choice to be honest and in integrity or to deceive ourselves with false beliefs.
We give our best and maintain equality with all or withhold what we know is true.
We can choose to commit to what is win/win or sacrifice and lose ourselves to give another the win.
When we are responsible and response able, we listen well and know what is the Highest Good.
When we are open and willing, we listen within and know what to say and do and give and create.
When we trust ourselves and can listen to one and all, including our own truths, we live well.
When we are willing to listen deeply, we hear and respond to the call with love, respect and gratitude.
Loving the silence
Listening to the silence.
Learning from the silence.
Grateful for the silence.
Betty Lue
Active Listening
What It Is
Active listening is a skill borrowed from non-directive counseling techniques which help the listener “decode” the person’s feelings, to tell what’s “inside”. The receiver tries to understand what it is the sender is feeling or what his messages mean. The receiver does not send back a message of his own. He feeds only what he feels the sender’s message meant, nothing more, nothing less.
What It Does
Active listening helps a person to find out exactly what they are feeling. It actually helps free the person from troublesome feelings.
Active listening helps a person become less afraid of negative feelings.
Active listening promotes a relationship of warmth and caring.
Active listening facilitates problem-solving by the person.
Active listening influences the person to be more willing to develop new thoughts and ideas.
Active listening allows the other person to start analyzing problems, achieve constructive solutions, think for himself.
Attitudes Required To Use Active Listening
You must want to hear what the person has to say. You must be willing to take the time. If you don’t have the time, say so.
You must genuinely be able to accept the person’s feelings, whatever they may be or however different they are from your own feelings or from what you think the other person should fee. This attitude takes time to develop.
You must genuinely want to be helpful to the person with a particular problem at that time.
You must have a deep feeling of trust that each person has the ability to handle his feelings, work through them, and will find his own solutions.
You must appreciate that feelings are transitory, not permanent. Feelings change—hate can turn into love, discouragement may quickly be replaced by hope. Consequently, you need not be afraid of feelings getting expressed, they will not become forever fixed inside the person.
You must be able to see the person as someone separate from yourself. This will enable you to permit the person to have his own feelings, his own way of perceiving things. You must be with the person as he experiences his problems.
From Thomas Gordon, Parent Effectiveness Training.
I taught this model to hundreds of parents in the 70’s.
It still is a powerful effective tools today with all ages.