BAJAN SUN MAGAZINE
NOV 2014
Are you Listening with
your Heart?
By Norma T. Hollis
Norma T. Hollis
Surviving today’s challenges
begins with Authentic Listening
A
re you an effective listener? When someone is
speaking to you are you listening to the whole
message or just the words? Are you waiting for your
chance to chime in or really hearing what the speaker is
communicating to you? When you listen with your heart
you hear the speaker’s full message and connect at a
heart level. This is authentic listening.
Listening from the heart means not just hearing the
words that someone says, it also means interpreting the
body language. When someone shares a message they
share it not only with words but also with emotion. The
emotion comes through the body language, the tone of
the words and how the words that are spoken connect
with the body language and tone. We all know the tone
of a mother’s voice when there is danger lurking. A child
listens authentically when the child knows that the tone
of the mother’s voice requires immediate attention.
Likewise, when someone gives you great accolades yet
their body language says something different, your
heart lets you know that there is something inauthentic
about the message. It’s like someone saying “It’s a
great day today” and saying it with a somber and rainy
day expression.
When you listen with your heart you can decipher the
authenticity of the message. When you listen from your
head intelligence alone you lose the depth of the
message that is understood by the heart. The heart has
its own intelligence. It holds the intelligence of emotion,
sincerity, hope and connection to the spirit. When you
use the intelligence of the heart to listen, you connect to
the positive and authentic elements of listening.
As you listen to all the news about the financial crisis,
are you listening with your heart? The information is
given to us to attract our “head” intelligence. The whole
issue of money, investment, interest, stocks etc. is
“head” driven. They are dollars and sense based and do
not connect with the “heart” of the issue. When you
listen from your head and not your heart you become
America’s Leading Authentic Voice Doctor®
Mentor, Transformational Artist ~ Visionary
Advocate of the Human Spirit
fearful,
distrustful,
discomforted.
worrisome
and
generally
Try listening from your heart. This means listening to
what your inner voice is telling you. Although we are in
tough times, you can get inner direction to overcome
the difficult times by listening with your heart. I have
chosen to turn off the TV and not buy into the hype of
fear. I found that just listening to one newscast of doom
and gloom put me in a negative frame of mind. As an
inspirational speaker I cannot afford to attract doom and
gloom emotions. How can I inspire someone if I allow
myself to buy into the fear hype? I cannot. Instead I
spend the news hour sitting in meditation and listening
to my heart. I find I get better direction on how to
conduct myself during these times by listening within
rather than allowing negative messages, from someone
else’s head, to permeate my thinking.
Likewise, when I speak to people during these times I
help them to listen to what their inner voice, their heart
message, is saying to them. We were all born with the
ability to listen to our heart. Every answer we need in
life can come to us by taking time to listen within. We
were each gifted with an internal GPS system that tells
us which path to take to move ourselves forward. When
you focus your listening skills on that heart message
rather than the message that comes from the heads of
those who promote doom and gloom you emerge as
victorious in spite of the current challenges.
Don’t allow yourself to get consumed with the negative
issues of the day. They are designed to lead you to
stress, distress, depression and fear. Instead, listen with
your heart, and help others to do the same. You will find
that at the end of this current situation you will not only
have survived, but survived with a greater sense of who
you are, what you are to do and a have great positive
attitude as well.
http://NormaHollis.com.
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