Are you listening?

 Are you listening ?

All around us people are listening to podcasts, music, self improvement lectures, TED talks and so on. In any public transport these days, most people have their headphones on listening to something. In cars people have their radios on or some  playlist playing, at home there is tv, even in restaurants family members are listening to something.

But are they listening to each other ? Have you ever started a conversation with a stranger in a public transport? In a doctor’s office while waiting for your appointment? How many meaningful conversations you have had with your significant other where you listened to each other in real sense than just talking about mundane things like children and grocery shopping . Yes those are important too but what about sharing our innermost emotions and listening to your partner’s thoughts? 

The art of conversation is dying because we are not listening to each other. We hear each other but studies have shown that we only listen for thirty five percent of the time. We are thinking of the rebuttal or the answer we are going to give. 

Social media has brought us a world of knowledge on our finger tips but it has reduced our attention span to five minutes. Parents complain about their kids glued to their phone but they themselves are guilty of this charge. 

The cacophony of sounds around us makes it difficult to pick up the sounds of silence. Yes, silence has its own sound. Have you tried listening to that? Try tuning out of all the noise around you and you will notice a change. There is silence talking to you. 

Try to discern different sounds around you. In a park, notice the chirping of birds, ripple of the water in the creek, sounds of bicycle wheels on the gravel, humming of bees. 

Once you do that, you will find that you can listen better in a conversation too. Listening is hearing and understanding what the other person is saying, processing it and making sense of it. 

In Sanskrit we have a word rasa meaning essence. To enjoy the essence of any conversation, recieve- R, appreciate-A, summarize-S and ask-A. Asking them the summary of what they said by repeating it touches the other person’s mind. They feel valued. In return they value you more. They will remember you as an interesting person. 

Yes RASA. Try it. Tell me your experience. 

Happy listening 

So be it !!!