“Live in the present, launch yourself on every wave, find eternity in each moment.”

~ Henry David Thoreau

Daily Inspiration Blog

This channel is all about the Gift of Listening!

I wish to introduce this channel with some profound words from

Eckhart Tolle taken from his incredible book

"The Power of Now"!

He writes:

The Art of Listening

"When listening to another person, don't just listen with your mind, listen with your whole body.

Feel the energy field of your inner body as you listen.

That takes attention away from thinking and creates a still space that enables you to truly listen without the mind interfering.

You are giving the other person space — space to be. It is the most precious gift you can give.

Most people don't know how to listen because the major part of their attention is taken up by thinking.

They pay more attention to that than to what the other person is saying, and none at all to what really matters:

the Being of the other person underneath the words and the mind.

Of course, you cannot feel someone else's Being except through your own.

This is the beginning of the realization of oneness, which is love.

At the deepest level of Being, you are one with all that is.

Most human relationships consist mainly of minds interacting with each other, not of human beings communicating,

being in communion. No relationship can thrive in that way, and that is why there is so much conflict in relationships.

When the mind is running your life, conflict, strife and problems are inevitable.

Being in touch with your inner body creates a clear space of no-mind within which the relationship can flower."

Something to ponder over!

Listening is a gift and something to be cherished, but somehow these days the art of listening has been forgotten.

Lots of us are distracted when engaging in conversations or even when listening to music or a podcast.

A habit of half-listening seems to have crept in.

There's so much worth listening to, and being present is perhaps the first step in starting to listen actively.

Anyway, here's to delving into lots of stuff about listening!

Image from here

Because most of us love listening to music, below is a little activity to try.

Listening: Ten Times Two

A routine for making careful observations about music.

1. Listen to a piece of music quietly. Let your ears wander and take in as much as possible.

2. List 10 words or phrases about any aspect of what you hear.

3. Repeat steps 1 & 2: Listen again and try to add 10 more words or phrases to your list.

I like this activity because it starts with just listening and then you can reflect by putting some

words to paper without losing the awareness that comes before your thoughts!

Check out this link for more activities from Project Zero.

And finally check out this song about listening - Listen2me by Foxwarren! I love it!!

Image from here