The Art of Listening

The Art of Listening

We have all heard people saying so and so person is a good listener, he is always willing to lend an ear and listen to your woes, etc. All our listening is focused on the outside world, as we are aware only of the physical ears. The ears listen to the sounds which are transmitted to the brain which decodes those sounds and you understand what is being heard. You are actively listening to external sounds, noise throughout your life – and now in the modern world the noise in cities is so much that we have a new kind of pollution – noise pollution! This continuous hammering of a variety of sounds ends up creating stress in people, so much so that they start yearning for silence.

When they feel stressed, then a holiday to a resort is on the cards, but once you reach the resort you feel the external silence, which is absence of noise pollution – but the noise in your brain continues. Your thoughts, your work stress, your family stress is carried with you in your brain and your thoughts follow you. The internal noise continues which is just a mirror of the external noise. If we can stop this noise then we will be in a position to really listen to our inner voice.

Our inner voice is nothing but our conscience, soul, gut feel, insight or whatever you want to call it. In spirituality it is your conscience or your soul. Your inner guidance and wisdom aren’t always a voice in your head. Often, it’s a feeling, a sensation, image, energy or emotion. There’s no one best or way to experience your inner voice. The important thing is to identify when and where you feel it.

The question is – if this inner voice is so powerful and effective, why don’t we hear it? And if we do hear it, why don’t we listen to it? Most of the time our brain overrules the inner voice because it does not think it is practical, it doesn’t like the answer, so you end up ignoring it and later on regret ignoring it because of the adverse consequences.

The best way to start listening is to quieten the mind. Meditation under the guidance of a spiritual master over time helps you achieve that goal. Once your mind becomes quiet, your body consciousness reduces and you soul consciousness increases. With the increase in soul consciousness, you begin to hear your inner voice which was otherwise buried deep within you. So as Ram Dass said – “Be still, the quieter you become, the more you hear.”