True listening is more than just hearing what is being said. Listening can be an offering. It can be transformative. It can be the greatest gift we could ever offer ourselves or another.
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Thank you for listening, sharing, reviewing and sending me your dreams and experiences with the musical divination!
Listening can be.
Speaker:very, very therapeutic.
Speaker:Oftentimes, I would feel in polarity sessions, like my clients would come
Speaker:for that little check-in before they got on the table more than any other part.
Speaker:, that check-in was an opportunity for me To listen with my entire body, listen
Speaker:with all of my energy to find resonance with that person and their energy.
Speaker:So that they felt totally heard and seen and witnessed, and in so doing,
Speaker:we are creating a kind of rapport and.
Speaker:It's been studied across every type of therapeutic application,
Speaker:the quality of rapport that a practitioner has is.
Speaker:Really what affects the outcome of one's healing?
Speaker:, whether that's in the medical context or in the psychotherapy context, that when
Speaker:the practitioner is really listening, the client , receives the most benefit,
Speaker:and their therapy goes the farthest.
Speaker:welcome to a Lone Traveler's Guide to the Divine, a podcast for
Speaker:seekers, dreamers, healers, and anyone on their healing journey.
Speaker:Today I wanted to talk a little bit about listening.
Speaker:I actually had seated my dreams last night, so I was divining, , a dream
Speaker:to guide me around what to do for this podcast because I knew that it was time
Speaker:to put one out, but I still had not.
Speaker:Really landed on the right thing, to share.
Speaker:And I was still really feeling called Last night.
Speaker:I was talking to my partner and I was like, I just really.
Speaker:Wanna be in a state of listening right now as opposed to
Speaker:speaking and sharing my voice.
Speaker:And he said, why don't you do the podcast about listening?
Speaker:And I thought, oh my gosh, that's brilliant.
Speaker:So I put it the question to my dreams, And of course, the dream
Speaker:that came from the seed was in total alignment with this topic.
Speaker:First of all, there was a band in TheDream that was playing songs for
Speaker:divination purposes, exactly the way my friend Andras Jones runs his musical
Speaker:divination Radio eight ball show.
Speaker:I interviewed Andras in a previous episode last year, and.
Speaker:He actually mentioned that part of what motivated him to create this game was
Speaker:to give people an opportunity to really listen to music, because when we're
Speaker:searching a song for an answer to our own question, we can't help but listen
Speaker:more acutely than we would otherwise.
Speaker:So to honor the dream I incubated for this episode, if you listen to the
Speaker:end, we will be doing a little musical divination you'll be invited to ask
Speaker:a question like you would if you were pulling a tarot card or shaking a magic
Speaker:eight ball, and then you will listen to the song that I have chosen at random
Speaker:for the answer to your question.
Speaker:I also wanna give a little shout out to my best friend Dzhan, who texted me
Speaker:some possible dates to schedule my next Polarity communications class in the
Speaker:morning, as I was contemplating this dream . So I called her up and asked her
Speaker:interpretation and she suggested that this episode should be about polarity
Speaker:communications, energetic communication, which is all about listening.
Speaker:So, Perhaps this topic is reaching you at an opportune moment as I'll be sharing
Speaker:some polarity tips, some specific tools for how to listen energetically and just
Speaker:exploring how really, truly listening is.
Speaker:Way more valuable than anybody ever really talks about the quality of
Speaker:our presence, our ability to create rapport with our clients or with
Speaker:anyone that we want to interact with.
Speaker:If you're working in sales or if you're working in any kind of customer service or
Speaker:human services Working as a teacher with students being a parent . I can't think
Speaker:of any context where this isn't useful and helpful and incredibly valuable, and
Speaker:that is to be able to create rapport.
Speaker:To have a, a resonant field between you and the other person
Speaker:so that we can actually really receive them.
Speaker:And when we are able to do that, some kind of magic happens.
Speaker:You get into a space of deep affinity and connection.
Speaker:And all kinds of healing is possible when you get there.
Speaker:That isn't possible when you don't.
Speaker:So I would say that out of all of the things that, polarity has offered for
Speaker:me in my life, Polarity Communications has been the most useful, helpful,
Speaker:applicable to everyday situations.
Speaker:And I use it ,, not just with the people I love around me or with clients, but.
Speaker:With myself, I can take that quality of listening and resonating and turn that
Speaker:inward to how am I being receptive to me?
Speaker:How am I honoring the subtle cues that my own energy is showing me,
Speaker:and where am I not, how can I become more curious about what's happening
Speaker:within myself moment to moment?
Speaker:So that I can be fully present with myself, and I do believe that when
Speaker:we get really present with ourselves and we're able to really tune in
Speaker:to what our own energies trying to tell us, only then can we be fully
Speaker:present for anyone else around us.
Speaker:And in this episode, I really wanted to break down a few pieces
Speaker:that I have learned about listening specifically when we wanna truly,
Speaker:Listen to ourselves or to another.
Speaker:These few things to me are the most important things to consider.
Speaker:One fun fact that I learned just from Googling today was that the word listen
Speaker:contains the same letters as the word silent, which I had never really noticed
Speaker:before, but I think that's pretty amazing.
Speaker:So to me, like the first principle in listening is really about
Speaker:getting quiet enough to hear.
Speaker:It's about giving the other person safe space to explore what's going on for them.
Speaker:Being receptive enough to just witness and be present.
Speaker:So that's, that's kind of like an etheric principle, right?
Speaker:Spaciousness , quiet.
Speaker:Silence.
Speaker:Creating , the opportunity for thoughts or emotions or whatever is
Speaker:present to be expressed, and when we're doing that for another person.
Speaker:Wherever we can offer real presence and real witness.
Speaker:That is a true, true gift.
Speaker:Just coming into a place of quietness in yourself in the moment
Speaker:is the first step in listening.
Speaker:and acknowledge that that that is active.
Speaker:It's not passive to hold space is , a very active thing because
Speaker:it actually takes attention and focus and willingness to step back.
Speaker:To get silent, and to really be receptive to whatever arises.
Speaker:I found this great quote by Alice Duer Miller, a feminist, poet and
Speaker:activist in the early 19 hundreds.
Speaker:She said People love to talk, but hate to listen.
Speaker:Listening is not merely not talking.
Speaker:Though even that is beyond most of our powers, it means taking a vigorous
Speaker:human interest in what is being told us.
Speaker:You can listen like a blank wall or like a splendid auditorium where every
Speaker:sound comes back fuller and richer.
Speaker:I love specifically this point about vigorous interest.
Speaker:To me, that speaks to another really important principle of listening,
Speaker:which is being willing to be engaged.
Speaker:, putting away our assumptions and inviting the unknown, the mystery to be revealed.
Speaker:That is, again, not a passive thing,
Speaker:in order to listen vigorously, we have to want to know what someone is gonna say,
Speaker:We have to make room in our heads and our hearts and our busy
Speaker:life to get genuinely curious.
Speaker:So listening really begins with giving ourselves the grace to be receptive.
Speaker:We have to fill our own cup in order to be able to hold
Speaker:space for ourselves or another.
Speaker:If we want to show up as an empty vessel, or be the hollow bone, or be
Speaker:the channel, or be able to cultivate a quality container that doesn't come from.
Speaker:Nothing.
Speaker:When you're in a session, there's space for that built in.
Speaker:You know that in order to be able to tune into another person effectively,
Speaker:we have to tune our own channel.
Speaker:We have to get our own attunement first, and so we set that, set our energy
Speaker:tune to the earth and highest wisdom.
Speaker:And from that place of alignment, really filling yourself with your own energy and
Speaker:becoming that really excellent container means starting from a place of fullness
Speaker:so that we can make room for emptiness,
Speaker:You can listen like a blank wall or like a splendid auditorium where every
Speaker:sound comes back fuller and richer.
Speaker:I think this is a beautiful, beautiful invitation to acknowledge that
Speaker:not all rooms receive sound the same way there are spaces where sound
Speaker:will fall flat and it will not echo.
Speaker:It will not come back sounding fuller or stronger.
Speaker:We can be like the flat wall that is, , not really being receptive to what the
Speaker:person is saying or what ourself is trying to say., , Absorbing the sound and maybe
Speaker:interpreting it through our own filters
Speaker:Or we could be like that amazing auditorium where we are amplifying
Speaker:, allowing it to reverberate and echo back to its source.
Speaker:That takes a, , a kind of generosity to be that big.
Speaker:To be that empty, reflective and resonant.
Speaker:It takes some energy to be that way.
Speaker:Not stifling, but allowing it to be resounding to come to total resolution,
Speaker:to honor every last reverberation.
Speaker:That's a really sacred gift.
Speaker:Listening deeply and well, really comes from a place of neutrality that is
Speaker:detached, yet curious, invested, but open.
Speaker:It's about coming from a place of being willing to be surprised.
Speaker:And when I was young, I used to work with a pendulum.
Speaker:And if you know what a pendulum is, it's like a heavy object on a string and you
Speaker:ask the pendulum a question in order to divine the answer or to find lost objects.
Speaker:But the practice of using the pendulum effectively always
Speaker:began with three things.
Speaker:One was you first ask permission to use the pendulum.
Speaker:And the second thing was, , can I, which means am I capable of
Speaker:asking the question in this moment?
Speaker:And sometimes you're just not hydrated enough or you're not present enough.
Speaker:. And the third thing was after I
Speaker:begin repeating in my head, I'm so curious what the pendulum will say.
Speaker:I'm so curious what the pendulum will say, and I would repeat that until it
Speaker:started to move in a yes or no direction.
Speaker:Planting that seed of curiosity was so that I wouldn't interfere with whatever
Speaker:the pendulum was going to tell me with my own thoughts directing it in a position.
Speaker:I wanted to be neutral.
Speaker:And the way that I found to get to neutrality was through curiosity.
Speaker:I'm so curious.
Speaker:What will it say?
Speaker:I'm so curious.
Speaker:What will it say?
Speaker:And so that was just something that I thought of today when
Speaker:I was really breaking down.
Speaker:This whole thing of listening, allowing the truth to be
Speaker:revealed without influencing it.
Speaker:And that simply how we're framing our thoughts and our presence
Speaker:can inform the pendulum, right?
Speaker:And it can definitely inform each other.
Speaker:And so whenever I really wanna listen, I wanna let go of whatever.
Speaker:Preconceived notions I have about what the other person might say or
Speaker:about what is going on within myself.
Speaker:Even if I think I know, then I'm going to be asserting an energetic direction
Speaker:and if there isn't any curiosity there, then my listening is not authentic.
Speaker:I already think I have an answer Maybe.
Speaker:So to me, a part one aspect of really listening well is
Speaker:about being incredibly curious
Speaker:that's something that we can move towards intentionally, especially when
Speaker:we're feeling sort of apathetic or uninterested curiosity tends to be a
Speaker:way, back to experiencing more vitality and reverence for our everyday existence.
Speaker:And I've really been leaning on this hard lately because I've
Speaker:been challenged in that arena.
Speaker:And when I find, , the world seems uninteresting or.
Speaker:Predictable or maybe it's overwhelming and I'm just feeling too sensitive to engage.
Speaker:That also can happen.
Speaker:Then my, my practice is really about . , how can I get more curious?
Speaker:How can I get more hopeful?
Speaker:And that place of hopeful curiosity is.
Speaker:Really to me where, where I feel the most alive.
Speaker:And when those things start to wane, that's when I know
Speaker:I'm, I'm losing some vitality.
Speaker:Some, some bit of my essence is, is draining somewhere.
Speaker:So I need to like, go back in and really listen to my own system.
Speaker:Like where, where am I draining my energy?
Speaker:And how can I, refill my cup and get curious again, and get hopeful again and
Speaker:become, entranced in wonderment and.
Speaker:Open myself to new ideas, new thoughts, epiphanies, revelations,
Speaker:and when those are flowing, that's when I know I'm in alignment.
Speaker:I am on my path.
Speaker:So anytime I'm not, then I just know I need to lean in on curiosity.
Speaker:And it could start with just that repeating over and over.
Speaker:I'm so curious what my life has to say to me today.
Speaker:I'm so curious what this person is going to say next.
Speaker:When I'm not already feeling reverent and open and gracious it gives me a
Speaker:way in it's like a thread that I can follow back to that place of really being
Speaker:hungry for whatever is coming, and I think that that's a really important
Speaker:place to recognize in ourselves.
Speaker:In our energy so that we can go back there, especially when we're,
Speaker:we're feeling far away or off.
Speaker:So whenever you are about to sit down and have a conversation or you desire
Speaker:to have a deeper sense of connection with another person or with yourself.
Speaker:I really think listening is the way to get there.
Speaker:Listening is the way to deeper resonance, to deeper connection,
Speaker:in physics, the definition of resonance is when the frequency of an initial
Speaker:object's, external vibration matches the resonant frequency of a second object.
Speaker:As a result, the second object will vibrate or oscillate
Speaker:at a higher amplitude.
Speaker:I love that this definition of resonance is not just about when two
Speaker:things are vibrating in a matching frequency, but really it's about how
Speaker:one object matching the vibration of another actually raises its amplitude.
Speaker:And I think that this is a really essential key to the difference
Speaker:between just listening and really, truly energetically listening.
Speaker:I would say that the way that in polarity we do this is, is first of
Speaker:all, just by treating all beings as frequency generators, recognizing that
Speaker:we are made of energy, that energy is moving, it is always in motion,
Speaker:and when we can meet another person.
Speaker:In their energy and recognize, acknowledge, notice, become
Speaker:aware of how they are vibrating and how we are vibrating.
Speaker:Then through that awareness and intention, we can consciously.
Speaker:, get into deep resonance, and then also amplify their frequency in the way
Speaker:that is most supportive and helpful.
Speaker:But it starts with that neutral base of just meeting them where they are.
Speaker:And in order to do this, there's a few steps I kind of broke down
Speaker:and I do wanna invite you if you're interested, to try this as an
Speaker:experiment to connect with someone.
Speaker:You know, perhaps inviting them to tell you how they feel.
Speaker:Uh, for five minutes.
Speaker:You could just time it.
Speaker:And before you begin, in order to sort of measure the outcome, it's
Speaker:good to just sort of, you know, even though it might seem arbitrary,
Speaker:pick a number between one and 10.
Speaker:How connected or how in resonance do you feel?
Speaker:Perhaps they're in a really different place than you are and you can notice
Speaker:this based on, you know, how fast or how slow are they speaking or moving?
Speaker:Where are they emotionally?
Speaker:Do they seem really up, really down, really, you know, heated
Speaker:or really cool and aloof?
Speaker:How are they doing and, , how are you doing?
Speaker:So just becoming aware of what frequency are you already at your baseline, right?
Speaker:And then from there, kind of rate on a one to 10, how connected do you feel
Speaker:noticing where you're at and where they're at, and getting into a, a neutral place
Speaker:, beginning to make space for them.
Speaker:To share and really inquiring, how are they doing?
Speaker:And then practice active, energetic listening by coming into a place of
Speaker:silence and imagining that you are that magnificent auditorium there to
Speaker:not just receive their, words, their thoughts, their feelings, whatever it
Speaker:is that they're sharing, but to really amplify that with your own energy.
Speaker:So You can meet them with your body language.
Speaker:You can meet them by repeating back the words you hear them
Speaker:say through mirroring through.
Speaker:, Giving them some of the gestures that they're using as they're explaining how
Speaker:they're feeling, giving that back to them.
Speaker:And then notice how at the end of this exchange, , your energy feels
Speaker:differently in relation to them.
Speaker:How do they feel?
Speaker:And notice that that level of connection, if it has gone from a low number to a
Speaker:high number, it, it almost always does.
Speaker:You can, if you start out in two different places and then you're
Speaker:able to come into resonance, then.
Speaker:It, it's just an amazing, amazing thing what happens the power of our full,
Speaker:undivided attention and reflection, it's really a beautiful thing.
Speaker:So to close out , I wanted to honor the dream that I incubated for this episode by
Speaker:doing a little musical divination and so, What that means is I'm going to invite you
Speaker:to tune in in a moment to your question.
Speaker:I'll kind of guide you through this, and then I will be playing a song at random
Speaker:to answer the question that you're asking,
Speaker:. So just noticing and really
Speaker:to your question in the song.
Speaker:And I will be.
Speaker:Ending the episode there.
Speaker:So I just want to, , encourage you to check the show notes for a link to share
Speaker:with me anything that comes up for you from your musical divination, or if you
Speaker:try this listening experiment with another person, I'd love to hear how it goes.
Speaker:And definitely check out my website@elevationhive.com for.
Speaker:Future classes, including our Polarity communications class about active
Speaker:listening, energetic listening, and others that are also coming soon.
Speaker:So I encourage you to tune in now as you begin this process of musical
Speaker:divination . Maybe, you know, shake it out a little bit, take a few deep breaths as
Speaker:we enter into this last little exercise.
Speaker:Of honing in on a question that you might have for as my friend Andras
Speaker:would call it, the pop oracle.
Speaker:Perhaps there's something in your life right now that you are
Speaker:wondering about, something that you are seeking guidance around.
Speaker:I am choosing this song based on a randomized Feature from my song provider,
Speaker:and I would invite you to listen to this whole song with your full presence.
Speaker:Inviting whatever first thought, best thought pops into your mind as
Speaker:you listen to the music, or to the words, or to anything that maybe
Speaker:even comes into your environment as you are listening to provide you
Speaker:with the exact information you need.
Speaker:Thank you.