Teach a Kid to Listen

If you’ve been a KnowFear reader for awhile, you’ll recall my earlier posts about topics such as breathing, struggling to be present, introspection, and curiosity as examples of self-healing opportunities. I’d like to add another to the shared toolbox.

Listening.

Part of being awake, aware, mindful, and present is to be open to soaking in what’s going on around us. So often, when we have a head full of busy, with thoughts and emotions ricocheting around like we’re mental pinball wizards, we become so inwardly-focused that we stop paying attention to the world around us. In doing so, we lose the sense of being connected to the rest of humanity, which can in turn effect our interactions with others, and theirs with us.

One way to ensure that we’re aware is to practice listening. As I’ve said before, this isn’t an exercise that some corporate HR trainer runs through to sell you on the virtues of active listening skills. This is about clearing your mind of the busy and reconnecting with your surroundings.

I performed this exercise one hot summer day last year, with my 8 year old son, as we spent some time together on the deck in our back yard. I suggested that we take a couple of deep breaths, rid our heads of everything that was going on, and just listen for a couple of minutes. At the end of that time, we would count the number of things we had heard that we typically ignore as background noise.

We listened for two or three minutes – no small feat for an 8 year old, so props to the little dude – and then did a quick verbal catalog of our aural surroundings. He was amazed by how much there was to hear and notice. I think we were in the low 30s when we finished counting!

From the easy to discern racket (airplane in the distance, car driving past, siren coming from the west) to more subtle intonations (woodpecker across the street, bumblebee whizzing past, the spritz of a neighbors lawn sprinkler), the sheer volume (no pun intended) of noises was astounding.

Not only could we hear birds chirping, singing, squawking, and whooping, we could tell them apart and know where they were located, and we had some spirited conversation about which might be talking to each other. Similarly, there was more than one water sound, several automotive hums, a plethora of voices (including laughing, playing children), and other assorted buzz, clatter, and din.

My son walked away with new understanding and wonder at just how much is happening in the world that doesn’t involve him, but also convinced that it’s very easy to reconnect with everything if he is willing to take the time to do nothing but listen.

So I challenge you. Go do nothing but listen.