The Healing Power of Listening PDF Print

There are ten (10) principles to become an integrated, balanced listener for our well-being, healing and wholeness.

I. LISTENING STARTS WITH YOU. To change our world we need to change our ways of listening and attention. We are called first to be, not to do. We are called to be listeners.

II. BE A BALANCED LISTENER. Listen to your spiritual/moral, emotional, intellectual and physical needs. We listen according to our own needs. Listening has a purpose!

III. BE A LOVING LISTENER. We listen because we love. We love because we listen. Intimacy is a result of genuine listening.

IV. LISTENING TO INNER VOICES - A WAY OF BRINGING OUT INTO THE LIGHT.

V. YOU ARE YOUR FEELINGS; YOU LISTEN THE WAY YOU ARE.

VI. BE A PROACTIVE, THINKER LISTENER. Learn to cultivate a habit of proactive thoughts.

VII. BE A PRESENT MOMENT, ATTENTIVE LISTENER. We resent because we keep listening to the past. We are anxious because we keep listening to the future. Live in the NOW!

VIII. THE MORE YOUR SOUL IS SUBJECT TO GOD, THE MORE SIN LOSES ITS HOLD ON YOU.

IX. GOD CALLS YOU TO LISTEN. WHAT IS YOUR RESPONSE? Yahweh said: “Listen to the voice of Yahweh…for I am Yahweh, the one who heals you.” (Ex 15:26)

X. LISTENING TO THE OTHER AS A WAY TO RECEIVE AND TRANSMIT LOVE AND LIFE.

These are the ten principles by which we become an integrated balanced listener.

LISTENING STARTS WITH YOU

We do not learn because of what?           Because we do not listen!
We fail to achieve our goals, why not?     Because we do not listen!
We destroy our relationships because …  we do not listen!
If we do not listen, the end result is …    we keep hurting ourselves and others.

1) 60% of our problems are caused by faulty communication.
2) Half of divorces break down because of miscommunication.
3) More than 90% of criminals have difficulty communicating with people.
4) So many voices are competing for attention.
5) Someone is always shouting to be heard.
6) Any person trying to cut through interference can expect what? Resistance!

What is listening?
In the context of our topic listening means paying attention, obeying or practicing what you heard. It’s turning your ear toward, toward the person. It’s another name for obedience. It’s listening from the heart.

Why is LISTENING an important topic for us in this age?
1)    It’s important because the quality of your listening determines the quality of your relationship with others. Listening teaches you to connect and leads you to healing of yourself and your relationships.

2)    Most of our life depends, not on how the circumstance affects us, but on how you and I react or respond to it. So, your emotional interaction and listening to yourself are the keys to determine how you will inter-relate with yourself and others. Eventually the question in listening is: do you want to communicate love and life, or do you want to retard it? We have many experiences of poor choices we make. Of course, we are not perfect and we have problems.

     Psychologists say: 99% of diseases are emotionally induced.
     We encounter distress in relationships or work due to feelings of negativity.
     People spend 80% of their time wallowing in problems, rather than doing something about
     them.

3)    People react rather than respond to situations due to unresolved, unhealed emotions and other factors like addictions and sin, which affect our freedom and judgments.

The END RESULT IS we spend our life HURTING ourselves and others, rather than HEALING OURSELVES AND OTHERS!

WHAT DOES THIS STATEMENT MEAN? If you want to be an integrated, balanced listener you must pay attention to yourself. It starts with you!

The voices we hear come from somewhere within ourselves. We, human beings, are unique. We have human faculties, or powers, within us such as, thought, memory, imagination, and emotions.

YOUR THOUGHT TELLS YOU SOMETHING. It is like a lecturer, an educator, a speaker, a teacher, a preacher, a newscaster, a weather bureau announcer. It tells you something it thinks or believes. It tells you an opinion or conviction, a suggestion or a command. The subject it wants to teach you is about the truth or untruth. Healing in this sense means: “The transformation of your mind” from lies, or deception, to truth; truth sets you free.

YOUR MEMORY RECORDS OR PLAYS-BACK YOUR TAPES. It is like a tape or CD recorder. It is like a computer. It has storage. It recalls, retrieves and it replays those tapes of negative or positive memories. Healing in this sense means: healing the un-resolved issues of hurts, i.e., healing memories of un-forgiveness. The memories of painful experiences are buried deep down in the unconscious. When healed, you remember the event but the hurt or pain is gone.

YOUR IMAGINATION HAS STORIES TO TELL. It is like TV, film or a video machine. It has action or drama movies. It has a theater or art galleries. You can see soap opera or music concerts in it. It invents; it creates; it dreams; it sees; it takes a camera photo; it pictures; it visualizes. Healing in this sense means: changing your image of yourself, God and your neighbor resulting in healing of your fears and hurts.

YOUR FEELINGS EXPRESS SOMETHING THAT IT WANTS YOU TO ATTEND TO. It energizes, moves, pushes or drives your appetite to do something about a situation. It is blind. It is really loud. Sometimes it is like a child that screams, looking for attention. It shouts, it giggles. It says wow! It says awesome! It bursts into tears. It drives you to embrace or punch someone. It says: I love it. It feels good. I don’t like it. It hurts. It says, “I am lonely.” It can be touchy or sensitive. It causes you to tremble. It affects, paralyzes or constricts your breathing. That is why when you panic, you must breathe deeply, exhaling and inhaling. It needs direction. It can be re-channeled or re-directed. If it comes from the senses, it is called passion. If it comes from thinking and meditation, it is called affection or sentiments. Healing in this sense means: healing unhealed emotions.

 YOUR WILL MAKES THE DECISION. You make decisions on the basis that that target or object is good. Of course, the highest supreme good is GOD. The thought understands it as truth, the will takes it as good, and the emotions energize you to act on it. The emotions are crucial because it is the immediate source of decision and action. The will is a governing body. It can submit to God. It can govern your emotions but can hardly manage, direct or control them. There was a man who came to me for counseling. He was crying and said: “Father, I have a problem with anger. I want to get rid of this because I am hurting my family. I feel helpless to do anything about it.” This is the time when you say to yourself: I NEED GRACE. Healing in this sense is following the will of the other, who is God, not yours. God’s will, not mine; that’s the perfect will.

What is God’s purpose for these faculties or powers?
Precisely as I mentioned, these faculties are for our use. As tools, you can use them for bad or for good. But God has made these faculties for a good purpose. If we are to know, to love and to serve God and to be happy with him in this life and the next, God has made the faculties, ultimately for God Himself: The will to always choose him; the mind to always think of him; the memory to always remember him; the imagination to always dream of him; and feelings to always affectionately love him. But the will is free. To love is a decision.

It is important for God that we listen. “Listen that you may have life.” As Jesus was asked which is the first commandment, he replied, “Listen, Israel! The Lord alone is your God!” Listening is the pre-note and primary condition for following the commandment.

Many of us are not even aware of the existence of these human powers or faculties, but there are two things we need to understand regarding them.
1)   We are influenced by all these faculties constantly traveling around the world.
2)   All these faculties need healing.

Thoughts travel by way of philosophy, ideology, theology etc. They can be carried over  through constitutions, government policy, mission statements, schools, educational or cultural, business, marketing, evaluation, recommendation channels, laws or churches.

Memories travel through anniversaries, souvenir collections, photo albums, documentary films, archives, historical spots and museums. Imagination travels by way of music, poetry, arts, fashion (New York), theaters (Hollywood), wonders, dreams, surprises, fireworks, creativity (Disneyland), and beauty appreciation.

Emotions travel in celebrations, festivals, entertainment, vacations, sports, conflicts, wars, violence, and poverty. From the slums of Calcutta, to Rome and the Caribbean, there are many different emotions that you encounter.

WHY ARE EMOTIONS IMPORTANT? 
Emotions are important because they are an energy. If you need fuel to run and move cars, you need emotions to run or move human beings. They can be emotions of depression or hope. We can infect one another with our depression or excitement. You can also get infected just by being at home watching TV where you are exposed to these different roller coaster of emotions. You don’t only catch colds at your workplace, you can catch unpleasant energies, if you don’t know how to make boundaries, or if you don’t know how to protect yourself.

The Will makes our decisions. Almost every second we have choices to make, whether consciously or unconsciously, spontaneously or well thought out. We are ruled by decisions that affect our economic, political, social, health and moral life. The Supreme Court makes judicial decisions, Congress makes legislative decisions, the President makes executive decisions. The mind says it’s true, the feelings say it’s good and the will says, “do it!” The world is run by decisions, but the problems arise when we must choose between God’s choice and man’s choice.

Things that you hear, see, feel in you and around you come from the movements of those faculties. They can influence your behavior, build your character, or retard your growth. People communicate, not only thoughts and decisions, but also memories, images and feelings. 

WHY DO THESE FACULTIES NEED HEALING?
In a sense, we were wounded, as we shall see later in our talks. These faculties are not perfect instruments. They are infected by addiction and sin. All the movements of these faculties either lift us up, or tear us down; destroy us, or build us up. NO WONDER THEN that we spend time hurting or harming one another rather than healing each other.

The desire to listen is a decisive factor, whether we want to transmit these thoughts we hear or the energies we feel.  Do you think we have the ability to do it? Yes, we do! WILL IT!

PRAYER:  O God, we thank you for the gift of our human faculties. May we use them to build an integrated balanced life. Heal our woundedness. Jesus, be Lord in all these faculties. Touch our disordered, unhealed  feelings, imagination, memory, mind and will. Help us to be attuned to your will and feel the rhythm of your heartbeat. Increase our capacity to listen. Father, in Jesus name we pray. Amen! 

(This teaching is from a Motivational CD by Rev. Michael B. Semana, © 2007, entitled, The Healing Power of Listening produced by World of Hope Foundation, Inc. It may be ordered by going to the Fr. Mike page of this website).

 
< Prev   Next >
[ Back ]