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Saturday, April 1, 2017

A Listening Heart


As I am really trying to be attentive to the Chapter Call to create silence, I am going to share a few thoughts from the March issue of "Friends of Silence."
This is from Listening Below the Noise by Anne D. LeClaire:

"The discipline of silence was leading me not only to a keener attention to language but to an improved capacity for hearing. On silent Mondays, I began to listen differently --to myself, to others, and to the world around me. It was a listening I would call both active and without an agenda ... I began to observe that when there was no expectation for me to respond, acknowledge, analyze... I listened differently. My ego relaxed... In silence I was hearing others more keenly and witnessing my own thoughts, too, and seeing how they served to separate or to connect me. I was learning not to turn away from the parts of myself that were difficult."

This is a good reflection to make, even if it is April Fool's Day.
Listening below the noise is a great habit to try to form and I think the discipline of silence is necessary to be able to really listen. My mind goes a thousand places sometimes when I am just trying to listen to a short homily.

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