As we consider the practice of deep listening, it might be a clearer practice if we focused on “deeper” listening, allowing ourselves to take steps into deeper, and deeper listening.
In terms of hearing sounds, if our ears work well enough, we are always capable of hearing sounds. Deeper listening means that we pause whatever has our attention, and focus on the actual sounds we perceive right now.
When we become aware of specific sounds, deeper listening invites us to consider the context of those sounds. Are they expected or unexpected for the context, and based on that place in context, what do they communicate to us?
When the context of sounds begin to send messages to us, deeper listening invites curiosity about the meaning those messages hold for us.
When deeper listening brings sounds into focus and we begin to hear them in context, and the context begins to communicate messages to us, and the meaning of the messages begin to move us into some way or another–we have moved into deeper listening. In fact, maybe at this point, we are on the verge of deep listening.
That original sound might be the sound of wind blowing through the trees (actual sounds), which I notice in my neighborhood on a day that I didn’t expect to be windy (context with communication). As the wind blows, I see more and more leaves falling from the trees, and there is the subtle message: fall really is upon us. The temperatures are getting cooler. Look at those beautiful colors. The seasons are changing. This is the time of year that many of my relatives and friends have birthdays (messages being sent). I spend some time thinking about them, remembering those who have passed away. Feelings of relationships past and present surface, and a sense of where I fit into them arises (meaning).
Deeper listening can start with the very next sound that we hear.
~Bob Patrick
