ZEN LISTENING

Rebecca Shafir (2000). Zen of Listening: Mindful Communication in                                       the Age of Distraction.

What makes listening ZEN is the mindful attention that we give to the speaker, focusing on them without judging in a curious way that allows us to learn. My view of listening is much broader than the International Listening Society Definition of listening used in the book. Listening is more than attending to spoken/nonverbal messages...listening includes the whole of life, the SONG of life where SONG is an acronym that stands for S = listening to self, O = listening to others, N = listening to nature, and G = listening to God/Goddess or more broadly the divine. 

One of many practices based on Shafir's Zen listening is to approach our listening encounters with the same intention as we have when we "go to the movies" (the cinema). When we go to the movies, we are anticipating something enjoyable, we relax into the movie and become entranced by the characters, dialog, and environment, we become absorbed in the movie, like we are living it, and we aren't ruminating about our agenda, what we are going to say next, we flow with the movie, go where it takes us...in a similar manner, we can "get into another's movie" by giving them our full and undivided attention. When we do this, we become absorbed and fascinated by their movie. The experience of listening can be enjoyable for us and often affirming and healing for the speaker when we "go to the movies" with them.