Deep Listening Considerations

There are twelve audio recordings; Each consideration lasts between five and six minutes in length. If possible, find a quiet place to take in the content of each session. Following your listening session, you may want to have a writing journal to respond to a few prompts and capture your reflections on the theme.

The audio recordings do not have any captions so the learners can focus on deep listening. However, the script of each consideration is provided for accessibility purpose and for those who may need it. Although all of these resources are provided, we highly recommend you to listens to the audio first and then refer to the key points, journaling questions, and script (if needed).

Consideration #1: Listening As An Act Of Giving

Listen to Audio #1 Listening As An Act Of Giving.

Key Points:

• Mental interference gets in the way of listening
• Noisy environments, multi-tasking, disruptions and distractions make it challenging to listen well
• Listening is more than mental concentration
• Hearing mediates sonic events to the brain
• Listening involves a conscious choice to be responsive to sound
• Listening can be an act of giving (such as giving respect)
• Listening involves a type of discernment
• When I listen, I chose to give regard to another or something

Reflective question for journal writing:

For five minutes, consider the following and write in your journal.

• What might you need to change to give more listening attention to a family member?

Consideration #2: The Shadow Side of Obedient Listening

Listen to Audio #2 The Shadow Side of Obedient Listening.

Key Points:

• As children we learned to listen to authority figure
• In our adult life, we may play out childhood issues around power struggles
• A child can be invited to listen for congruence between what is being asked and why
• Old stories of power can spill over into current relationships
• Listening requires discernment
• The ear can get overly conditioned
• A power differential can throw off deep conversation

Reflective question for journal writing:

For five minutes, consider the following and write in your journal.

• When might it be appropriate to question what you hear from a communicator?

Consideration #3: Listening To Other(s)

Listen to Audio #3 Listening To Other(s)

Key Points:

• Mindful listening can help us resolve differences
• A council or circle process can help participants develop a diversity of perspectives
• Peer to peer interactions foster respectful listening
• In a circular context, there’s a level playing field
• The circle is inclusive and each voice is respected
• Focused attention can be strengthened by a talking piece
• Group dialogue encourages us to speak authentically
• Listening can act as a form of validation

Reflective question for journal writing:

For five minutes, consider the following and write in your journal.

• Where might a circle process be applicable to a meaningful conversation with other students?

Consideration #4: Can You Believe What You Hear?

Listen to Audio #4 Can You Believe What You Hear?

Key Points:

• Truth telling is different than manipulating language
• Political or corporate language can disguise the facts
• Doublespeak abounds in our society
• Spinning verbal distractions can obscure truths
• Aboriginal societies value truthfulness in communication
• New cultural experiences shift language
• Be alert for verbal deceptions

Reflective question for journal writing:

For five minutes, consider the following and write in your journal.

• How might you strengthen your ability to discern fact from fiction when you hear a media report or a person speaking?

Consideration #5: The Wonders Of Our Aural Sense

Listen to Audio #5 The Wonders Of Our Aural Sense

Key Points:

• Hearing gathers information
• The ear is always open for business
• Hearing and listening work in tandem
• Interpretations of sound involves our memory banks
• Aurality is all about reaching out
• The ear scrutinizes 360 degrees
• Soundwaves aren’t edited out, everything goes in
• The physiological mechanism of hearing then leads into psychological filters

Reflective question for journal writing:

For five minutes, consider the following and write in your journal.

• How might you strengthen your ability to discern fact from fiction when you hear a media report or a person speaking?

Consideration #6: The Entrancing Side of Listening

Listen to Audio #6  The Entrancing Side of Listening

Key Points:

• The ear can act like a camera lens and isolate what is most important
• When we become absorbed in what we are listening to, a heightened state of concentration occurs
• Listening involves tuning out anything that interferes with what is significant
• Absorption happens when we are preoccupied with the detail of what we are hearing
• The more drawn in we become, when listening to words or music, the deeper the state of concentration
• Sounds can seize, still, or stir us according to our response
• What inspires us or what do we feel ambivalent about
• When we stop being an unconscious listener we become an active and selective listener
• Noise pollution assaults us in urban environments
• Our exposure to noise induces stress
• Information overload can also affect our listening attention

 Reflective question for journal writing:

For five minutes, consider the following and write in your journal.

• Where do you go to get away from too much noise (park, natural landscapes) and what do you notice about your stress levels when listening to Nature?

Consideration #7: The Role of Silence in Listening

Listen to Audio #7 The Role of Silence in Listening

Key Points:

• Sometime new insights come to us through silence
• Being alone or being less sure can facilitate inner listening
• Silence requires us to be susceptible
• When we court silence we make room for fresh insights
• Silence can bring us into the moment
• Holding silence in conversation can deepen exchanges
• Silence asks us to empty rigid ideas

Reflective question for journal writing:

For five minutes, consider the following and write in your journal.

• If you wanted to introduce more silence into your life, what are some possibilities?

Consideration #8: Listening and Playing With Sound Or Music

Listen to Audio #8 Listening and Playing With Sound Or Music

Key Points:

• Playfulness can be included in our creative acts
• Play in musicmaking invites experimentations
• When stuck, listening for ‘crazy wisdom’ can help
• Improvising with user friendly instruments invites surprise
• Listening undergirds improvisational musicmaking
• Innovating with sound creates a level playing field

Reflective question for journal writing:

For five minutes, consider the following and write in your journal.

• Where and how might you include more musical play in your life and what might be the benefits?

Consideration #9: Imagination and Listening to Music

Listen to Audio #9 Imagination and Listening to Music

Key Points:

• Our ancestors experimented with music as a language
• Music helped early humans express big experiences
• Music evokes strong emotions
• Humans hold a unique capacity to compose or improvise with sound
• Music accompanies us on the human journey
• Impressionistic music heats up the imaginal juices
• Listening can bring about a type of lucid dreaming

Reflective question for journal writing:

For five minutes, consider the following and write in your journal.

• What type of impressionistic music do you listen to (movie soundtracks, ambient music, classical compositions, jazz)? What happens when you devote some of your listening attention to impressionistic music?

Consideration #10: Listening Within A Circle Process

Listen to Audio #10 Listening Within A Circle Process

Key Points:

• A circle of listeners can hold our chaos
• Sometimes a circle format does enable us to come to a resolution
• We ideally listen with respect within a circle
• Competitive communication might happen in a council of individuals
• Play and interplay gets us beyond divisions
• Consensus is an agreement between different organs in affecting purpose
• We can listen our way into bringing about a common purpose

Reflective question for journal writing:

For five minutes, consider the following and write in your journal.

• What types of agreements might a group need establish in order for participants to safely engage in a circle process?

Consideration #11: Listening To Others

Listen to Audio #11 Listening To Others

Key Points:

• When our beliefs are challenged feels like a challenge to our core values
• Verbal attacks can occur when our conditioned beliefs are threatened
• Our identity can be tied into our beliefs
• Polarization can thwart shared understanding
• Challenging ourselves can help us suspend our rigid ideas
• It takes time to sort through our mixtures and get to a new level of trust

Reflective question for journal writing:

For five minutes, consider the following and write in your journal.

• What happens to you when you feel your core beliefs being challenged?

Consideration #12: Listening Requirements

Listen to Audio #12 Listening Requirements

Key Points:

• Listening asks us to notice our responses to word or sound
• Listening has an accumulative affect
• We can appear to be listening but be drifting off the moment
• We can gently guide our concentration back
• Multi-tasking can implicate the quality of our listening
• Mindful listening can be an antidote to scanning and surfacing
• We can listen to be affected by someone or something
• Listening lets the world in

Reflective question for journal writing:

For five minutes, consider the following and write in your journal.

• How do you bring your listening attention back to focus when you have drifted off?

Audio Script

Here is Deep Listening Audios Scripts