Hello and welcome.
My name is Kathy and I'm one of the teachers here on Insight Timer.
I was listening to George Michael's album Listen Without Prejudice Volume 1 the other day,
Which is a great album by the way,
And it really hit me.
What does it mean to listen to someone without prejudice?
It seems so simple,
Yet elusive.
In everyday life we hear a lot,
But do we really listen?
We often listen through filters of bias,
Assumptions,
And judgment.
We listen not to understand,
But to reply.
We hear a person's accent,
Background,
Or opinion,
And immediately decide whether their words are worthy of our attention.
You may be listening to this and be thinking the same.
I hope you don't and can stick with me till the end of the talk.
True listening requires us to set these filters aside.
It means listening with kindness,
Empathy,
And respect.
To leave behind what we think we know and give another person the gift of being heard.
Because when we judge before we listen,
We close our hearts.
Imagine if we listened without bias.
The quiet voices,
The uncertain ones,
The people who are often ignored.
We could discover something about them,
Their courage,
Compassion,
Or pain,
And see them in a different light.
So often we are caught up in arguments and misunderstandings that arise when we don't listen.
We defend,
We react,
But rarely do we understand.
I myself am guilty of doing this.
I'll give an example of a conversation I had with my teenage son.
He was explaining why he got a detention for talking in class recently.
I immediately jumped in to react and tell him what he should have done,
Without knowing the context behind it.
Look,
Being a parent is difficult,
But if I can make a conscious effort to really listen next time,
Without interrupting,
That's a win for our relationship.
A willingness to listen doesn't mean agreeing with everyone.
It means respecting them enough to let them speak their truth.
Sometimes the act of listening can heal wounds,
Rebuild trust,
And bring peace.
Every person has a story to tell that can teach us something,
But we'll never learn if we decided what we think before they speak.
So next time you're in the conversation with someone,
Pause and listen.
Not just with your ears,
But with your heart.
Because sometimes the greatest blessing we can give to another is to listen without prejudice.
Tomorrow you may want to check out my guided meditation called Listening Without Prejudice,
Which is available on my teacher profile.
Thank you.
