Are you listening?
Really listening?
Unsure about your path - look no further than your own heart. Deep listening requires us to look inward, which demands time and space for reflection and contemplation, something our current culture (and many people I know) fail to truly support. Expediency and efficiency are prized over all. So we try to ‘biohack’ our way to health, peace, and enlightenment, failing to honor and support all the commitment, dedication and practice required. We’ve lost touch with the beauty and power of ritual and the numinous.
How much time do we spend distracting ourselves, tuning out, avoiding, even arguing? When stop and listen we discover so much about ourselves and others. Learning to deeply listen takes practice. We may not like what we hear, we might experience discomfort or pain, we might ‘see’ things we didn’t want to see. Yet if we don’t listen, we never know! Insight and wisdom come from deep listening. Our nervous system experiences and responds BEFORE our brain develops its story and narrative. Before working on changing the interpretation and story, listen to your body. What is it telling? What does it have to say about how we orient to the world around us? What is it telling you about how safe you believe you are? Yes the body can be a scary place to inhabit, but it is what we have right now.
Listen. What is your heart and spirit and body sharing with you right now?
This month I’m taking medical leave from work - a decision my heart made for me since I wasn’t attending well to it. While I’ve dedicated my life to helping others turn inward and listen to their hearts, I’ve often neglected my own. Even my day job that claims to promote wholeness and health is a highly broken system. Is it any wonder my symptoms settled here?
Listen to your heart! It may be unknown territory, feel unsafe, be a bit scary, but what are the alternatives?
If you want to know where to go and what to do, place a hand in your heart, and start by thanking it for it’s tireless and continual job of keeping you alive, the pay it the respect it deserves and listen to it. You only will have yourself to thank.
