Really Listening

Listening compassionately—it makes a difference. For more about the art of mindful listening, read the following stories from Mindful.org. 

What compassion looks like: Read Heart & Mind blogger Kelly McGonigal's latest blog post, which addresses the question: Can you tell who is compassionate by just looking at them?

Deep Listening: To really listen to others, say David Rome and Hope Martin, we must first learn to listen to ourselves. They teach us three techniques for tuning in to body, speech, and mind.

Stop, Wait, Go: The hardest part of communicating well is knowing when to speak, when to be quiet and when to wait and see. Communication trainer Susan Chapman shows us how mindfulness can help.

Wholehearted Listening—How we listen affects how we are heard: Mindful.org "On Education" blogger Tish Jennings  writes about how the practice of mindful listening can dramatically improve teacher-student relationships.

There is no path to peace. The path IS peace: Thich Nhat Hanh addresses U.S. Congress about changing our society's foundation of violence. With deep, compassionate listening and loving speech, he says, we can bring harmony to our families—and our communities can become communities of understanding, peace and happiness.

Illustration ©iStockPhoto.com/MaryLB