The Ear of the Heart
In a TED Talk about listening, Julian Treasure says that in the cacophony of modern life, “It’s harder for us to pay attention to the quiet, the subtle, the understated.” He goes on to share five exercises for improving our listening. The one I found most valuable is to become aware of our various “listening positions.” Here are a few: active vs. passive, reductive vs. expansive, empathetic vs. critical. We can take on different ways of being as we listen. Learning what these are and deploying them as needed is resourceful.
A similar concept from the MetaPerformance Institute is the idea of “listening filters.” A listening filter is a quick and instinctive way of looking at things that influences how we understand what we are hearing. Here they are:
Do I agree or disagree? The "True" Filter
Have I heard this before? The "New" Filter
Do I like this or not? The "Resonance" Filter
Does this apply to me? The "Relevance" Filter
Where do I already do this? The "Reinforcement" Filter
These filters can be useful and they can also limit what we are capable of. Here’s a listening filter that opens up more possibilities:
How can I leverage this for my growth and the growth of others? Where am I not yet applying this in my life? The “MetaPerformance” Filter
Listening is important and fascinating. The most intriguing idea on listening that I’ve come across recently is from The Rule of St. Benedict. In the opening of his famous treatise on how to live the monastic life, the very first line reads: “Listen carefully, my son, to the master’s instructions and attend to them with the ear of your heart.” I’m finding it endlessly fruitful to ponder and practice what this might mean—to grow ever more able to listen at all times with the “ear of my heart.”
This week, I invite you to consider:
What is the quality of my listening like? In what ways might I improve my listening?
What listening positions or filters am I aware of? Which ones would I benefit from using more? Which ones would it serve me to use less?
What does listening with the ear of my heart mean to me? How well and how often do I do this? What could I do to deepen this ability?
God bless,
Dan
