What do you hear?

As I sit at my desk writing this post, I'm listening to the birds chirping in the background.

I'm curious to know what they’re saying.

It makes me think about listening. Specifically, being seen and heard by another person.

Can you think of a time in your life when you felt truly seen and heard by another person?

How do you remember feeling?

For me, these experiences are like a breath of fresh air.

They bring up memories of feeling held in safe embrace. Feeling validated and understood. Feeling free to be myself and explore. Feeling expansive and open.

These experiences are life giving.

I believe that my ability to truly listen to another human being is directly proportional to my ability to be able to listen to myself.

I want to share a few things that help me create a safe space for listening. They work when listening to myself as well as when listening to others.

Being present - Making time to be present with myself. I find getting quiet helps the most with this. Having a regular meditation practice helps me create space to be present with myself. Being outside in nature also allows me to hear my own voice.

Getting curious – Asking myself questions. What am I thinking and feeling? What is happening for me in my experience? What emotions are coming up?

Withholding judgment – No judgment allowed here! I let go of judgments of “good” and “bad”, “better” and “worse”. It’s hard for me to create a safe space to hear myself if I’m having all kinds of judgments about my experience.

Reflecting – Acknowledging my experience. I find using the words “I am experiencing...” to be helpful in validating my own experience. When I validate my thoughts and emotions they can come up and move through much more quickly and effortlessly.

Listening – Hearing what’s coming up for me. What am I hearing? What is coming up for me, beyond the facts and circumstances? What is my intuition telling me? What do I know to be true?

How about you?

What things help you to be able to listen to yourself?

Is there one thing I shared, or that you came up with yourself, that you could incorporate into your life today to support you in being a better listener to yourself and to those around you?

As always, let me know if I can support you in being able to listen to yourself.

Simply click here to grab a spot on my calendar and we can talk!

In Ultimate Support of You!

Katharine

P.S. I like how the birds chirp away without a care in the world. It’s like they don’t need anyone to listen to them in order to sing and feel heard:).