Spring Listening with the Ears of Buddha

Spring encourages us to cultivate creativity, and bloom into social interactions. Active and compassionate listening is a communication skill that involves going beyond simply hearing the words another individual speaks. Compassionate communication is also about interpreting the psychic emotional meaning and intent behind words. To communicate and listen requires being still and embracing discomfort. The long ears of the Buddha are a reminder that he was once dragged down by wealth and the expectations of others, but his earlobes are empty because he renounced wealth and material expectations.

Some skills we will develop include: cultivating presence during conversation and in life, noticing (and using) non-verbal cues, asking open-ended questions to encourage further responses, listening to understand rather than to respond, and most importantly, withholding judgment and advice giving so we can practice the ability to hold neutrality in self and life.