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 provocative one.
The Listening Post interests me.
Practical listening skills interest me. And writing about nuances of listening interests me.
I have not, though, been writing regular letters recently. While the art of listening hasn’t changed, the Listening Post has. We’re in new territory.
The LP has gone through transitions before. Still, each transition held the potential for face to face listening. Now, in a wise response to Covid 19, face to face listening is not an option for our organization. I had always found inspiration to write about our listening practice and about our offering of a listening heart through the Listening Post, but these days I just don’t know what to write.
Here, in new territory, I’m asking for co-explorers. What is it you want to know about listening? Where do you see your listening skills going? Where are the missing pieces in your own practice of listening? How is your heart impacted by listening and how is it impacted when listening hasn’t happened?
This letter is being sent to LP volunteers, past and present, as well as to those of you who have been supportive of the Listening Post for all these years. It is also being sent to people who have asked to become LP volunteers during this extended period of LP closure (the Great Pause in our face to face service). We have no site to send new volunteers. We do, though, have this newsletter and our online listening pilot program.
Send me your questions and concerns about listening – that is what I’m asking from co-explorers of listening, from lovers of the sacred art of listening. No one ever fully knows how to do this art. While the art of listening hasn’t changed, pinning it down once and for all will never happen. Listening is a lived experience. Let us explore it together.
Respond to this newsletter with you questions and comments – sending a reply through the form below this letter will go straight to the Co-Directors of the Listening Post, Susan E. and Avie W. We want to hear from you. We want to know what you are curious about and will write letters back through this newsletter. We can all benefit from exploring listening. Practicing and exploring listening is the inspiration for the LP logo.
On behalf of Susan and myself, our endless gratitude,
Avie