Listen to Me!

Do we really know what it means to listen? It is more than the saying “open your ears”. I cannot speak for everyone, but I am guilty of nodding intently, showing the signs that I am listen, but really all I hear is blah, blah, blah. I am thinking about six thousand other things, and why do I do this. Is what the person is saying not important? Too often we are not able to just be in the moment and recognize and listen to what is going on. We are worried about everything else in our lives. For some reason I am not able to just live one day at a time in my life, I am thinking about what is happening tomorrow, next week, next month, in six months, and even about next summer…which is a year from now. Some would probably say that I am a multi-tasker, but I would just have to say that I am retarded…I just can’t say no. With a full plate comes consequences, we cannot be great at everything, and there is something that will suffer. What suffers is the question? For me, I would have to say my active listening is definitely on the suffer list.

It is not that I don’t value what someone has to say, or is it? Do I feel that the six thousand things running through my mind are more important than the person, perhaps the student that is standing in front of me? I see their mouth moving, but hear no words. These students, as we have talked about, just want to be heard. If we are supposed to be doing what is best for students, why am I not doing what is needed? Why have I made the determination that what the student is saying is not worth my full attention? To be an active listener takes practice, just like the experience we have received in class, of meditation takes practice. We will not be perfect at it; it is a work in progress.

**Wow, I think that I just talked myself in a circle. See...thinking of six thousand things.