Dose of Optimism #11
The gift of listening.
No doubt you have a lot on your mind these days: concerns about health and wellbeing, economic security, or just general unease about the state of the world. Keeping these feelings inside can make us more anxious – so we find outlets to let it all out. We call our friends and family, we share thoughts on social media (or at the very least, share links to other people’s thoughts) and we might even strike up conversations with our neighbors (from a safe six-foot distance). Most of us are having a say on this whole situation, one way or another.
But are we listening to the people and the stories that REALLY need to be heard?
We’re talking about true listening – the kind where you focus on not only what is being said, but who is saying it and how it is being communicated. The kind of empathetic listening that not only informs you as the listener but also heartens and nourishes the speaker.
So that they feel heard. Understood. Valued.
Part of what was happening to our world BC (before-Corona) is that too many of us stopped really listening to others, or at least others that didn’t share our opinions or worldviews. We “tuned out” the noise rather than tuned into the narratives. Even if we heard other voices, we might not have respected who was sharing them. Maybe because life was moving too fast, and we didn’t have time to pause and truly listen.
But now, amidst the Great Pause, with so many people wanting and needing to be heard, we should recommit ourselves to being better, more attentive listeners. We might not always be comfortable with what we hear, but by truly listening to the people who want to be heard, we might bring them some comfort. And while practicing that kind of compassionate dialogue is only one aspect of keeping us healthy, it will be a big part of healing our communities and our nation.
So let’s all listen up… it might be exactly what we need to lift us up.
Feel like you can’t listen to others because you are obsessively doom-scrolling the coronanews? Here’s how you can be more intentional about how you consume the daily news, and give yourself more mental space to listen to something (or someone) different. (via Greater Good Magazine)
Now that you put the news aside, want a refresher on how to be a great listener? Here are four easy-to-practice qualities that will help you and the person you are listening to. Hint: it’s more than just not speaking. (via Harvard Business Review)
Looking to hear diverse stories of how the the pandemic is being lived by others around the world? The “Covid Spring” oral history is something your should check out. (via Wired)
The stories of pandemics passed have seeped into our literature, creating emotional connections that we can feel by listening to our literary past. (via The Paris Review)
Some people speak through the visual as much as they do the verbal. Listen to (and watch) this hopeful four-minute video about the global pandemic collaboratively made by over 250(!) filmmakers around the world (via Muse Storytelling/YouTube)