by Avie | Feb 3, 2022 | experiences of Listening
Dear Listener, I’ve been taken by the concept of resiliency. Having been a volunteer listener for over a decade now, I have been moved by how the term comes up amongst volunteer listeners. By listening to people in our community we get to see a side of humanity that...
by Avie | Nov 15, 2020 | experiences of Listening, hone our listening skills
Dear Listener, The choice, a personal choice to listen, interests me. The practice of listening, checking oneself – in this moment am I actually listening? – interests me. It especially interests me when the conversation is a difficult one. An emotionally...
by Avie | Nov 14, 2020 | experiences of Listening
(this letter was written on 9/26/2019 – one from our archives) Dear Listener, How many times have you signed up for a listening shift since coming to the Listening Post? For so many of you it would be overwhelming to count. And you do it: you serve. You do it so...
by Avie | Oct 30, 2020 | experiences of Listening, hone our listening skills
Dear Listener, Every fall we hold a retreat for the volunteer listeners of the LP. We’ve referred to these annual events as our Retreat/Advance. This year we held our event online and while we missed being face to face with one another, the time we spent...
by Avie | Sep 27, 2020 | respect
Dear Listener, It has come up before, many times during our decade plus of service as volunteer listeners, that the Listening Post is countercultural. The term counterculture implies not just a way of being that is different from the main stream culture, but a way...
by Avie | Sep 18, 2020 | experiences of Listening, Letting Go of Outcome, valuing service
Dear Listener, Recently I’ve thought of listening as seeds. Just as there are things a seed needs in order to thrive and grow, there are things that nurture listening allowing it to thrive and grow. Without light, nourishment, oxygen, and a particular temperature or...
by Avie | May 24, 2020 | experiences of Listening, Letting Go of Outcome
Dear Listener, I have a weekly ritual these days… Once each week I log into our scheduler and delete the shifts scheduled for the next 7 days out. On the surface, this is not exactly what I’d desire to be doing. There is a bright side, though. Each week...
by Avie | May 23, 2020 | Letting Go of Outcome
I have been sitting with how long we have been waiting to listen in our familiar, face to face, service. As we have all been waiting – patiently or otherwise – for life to go back to normal, I was reminded of this letter to the LP volunteers. I had to...
by Avie | Apr 21, 2020 | Letting Go of Outcome, valuing service
update: 4/20/2020 The Mayor of Anchorage has extended his Coronavirus emergency proclamation until May 6th. The LP remains on pause at least until then. We are staying abreast of health and safety needs and practices and look forward to returning to our service of...
by Avie | Apr 10, 2020 | experiences of Listening, valuing service
Listening can remain a constant in an ever changing world Dear Listener, This Listening Post has been in a month long pause in its formal listening in our community. And, while we had looked forward to soon returning to our normal schedule of serving in 8...
by Avie | Apr 1, 2020 | poems, real contact and intimacy
Dear Listener, Have you noticed any influx of poetry in your life during this time of the serious need for our response to Coronavirus? I have. ‘Course you may know my fondness for poetry, it has shown up in these letters before. Recently, with the stressful...
by Avie | Mar 21, 2020 | experiences of Listening, gratitude, valuing service
This week’s letter comes from long time volunteer listener, Debbie Sis. Dear Listener, I was feeling a little low not being able to go to BFS tonight and knowing it’s for the higher good but still feeling the loss. I went to Costco as I had purchased some...
by Avie | Mar 13, 2020 | experiences of Listening, support, valuing service
Dear Listener, LP is responding to the Coronavirus pandemic. As of today, 3/12, we are pausing from our regular service of listening in all of our 8 sites, and postponing the opening of our site at Providence. We will take one month off at all sites to model our care...
by Avie | Mar 6, 2020 | poems
The Art of Listening I knew something of conversation, or so I thoughtuntil I listened to another.Knew something of the talk, the sounds the chatter,But to listen and to speak when moments call,that is far greater.Of conversations past, I no longer can remember,Since...
by Avie | Mar 2, 2020 | poems, real contact and intimacy
Dear Listener, This week I offer you a poem. William Stafford touches into a silence that resonates with the sacred art of listening – at least to my ears. If this poem resonates with you, with your listening practice, or with anything that moves you, I would...
by Avie | Feb 23, 2020 | difficult conversations, experiences of Listening, real contact and intimacy, silence
Dear Listener, A few years ago during one of our Volunteers’ Monthly Meeting we posed a question about trust. We broke into small groups and listened to one another explore what trust meant to us and how we experienced it. While I don’t remember the...
by Avie | Feb 9, 2020 | experiences of Listening, real contact and intimacy, valuing service
Dear Listener, I wasn’t able to write to you last week and I missed it, I felt its absence, and I missed you all. Writing these letters is part of my own listening practice and I felt like I missed an LP shift. How does it strike you when you aren’t able...
by Avie | Jan 25, 2020 | experiences of Listening, gratitude, poems, real contact and intimacy
Dear Listener, It is possible that anyone who has listened, really listened, knows that failure is unavoidable. Listening seems to stand out in relief, particularly during moments when it is not happening. Even when we have dedicated ourselves to practicing the sacred...
by Avie | Jan 11, 2020 | experiences of Listening, hone our listening skills, real contact and intimacy
Dear Listener, Being a volunteer at the Listening Post requires a level of commitment. When someone asks to become a volunteer, I send them some information about the commitment level that we have found to work best. Most of our volunteers surpass the suggested...
by Avie | Jan 5, 2020 | Letting Go of Outcome, real contact and intimacy, valuing service
Dear Listener, The meme above was given to us by Susan E. It arrives at an interesting time as I am involved in an ongoing conversation with a dear companion and our favorite topic is: serving others. This past week I was sharing that for me, that listen is...
