Hello and welcome to five minutes in nature with me Liz Scott.
I'm up on Dartmoor in the morning,
Watched a most beautiful deep red sunrise and there's a lovely freshness in the air,
A distinct feeling that the seasons are now shifting and I'm just sheltering in a gully.
It's an easterly wind today so it's a bit fresher today and the gully is full of bracken and ferns which are starting to go golden and crispy and shift and turn to the autumnal colours.
And this morning I'm talking about listening.
I've been on a course for a couple of days,
Which has been about deep listening.
And so over today and tomorrow,
I want to talk about some of the things I've learned.
And today is a reflection,
And the two questions I want you to ask yourself,
Or questions that we were asked,
Is what is it like when you aren't listened to?
And what is it like when you are listened to?
So it's usually quite helpful to consider it an example or an illustration so that you can remember it distinctly and fall back into that understanding of it,
That experience of it,
That memory of it.
So what about a situation when you weren't heard and then a situation where you were heard?
What's the difference?
Listening.
I share something in communities called well-being listening.
So listening is something that absolutely lights me up.
And I'm saying this because I know and have,
I say studied,
But have been curious about listening for probably two decades now.
And it's so easy to kind of get a sense of,
Well,
I know about listening,
I did a course on listening,
I've done that.
This isn't relevant for me.
But I'm asking you to be open that it is relevant for you.
So today and tomorrow,
We're going to explore this.
So just reflect,
Play with me,
Be open to this.
What is it like when you're not heard,
When you're not listened to?
What is it like when you're heard?
And just write down some of the words that come to you so that you can experience that for yourself.
The most important thing,
Really,
Is that you have that experience yourself,
Emotionally,
So you can see what it's like.
On this course,
We went into pairs and we talked about those particular things and then came back and shared our responses.
And it wasn't really that surprising that the words that came up for when you're not listened to were things like withdrawn,
Restricted,
Frustrated,
Lack of self-worth,
Lack of confidence,
Anger,
Annoyance,
Stress,
All these words that you'll have your own but aren't as prize.
And then the second list of words,
Which is when you are listened to,
When you are heard,
Were things like openness,
Freedom,
Confidence,
Love,
Joy,
Gratitude,
Words that had a real lightness to them.
So the words when you're not listened to had a heaviness.
There was a sense of life being tough and hard.
And then when you are listened to,
When you are heard,
There is a feeling of lightness.
Yes.
So whilst on the surface it looks like we're talking about what it is like to be heard,
I want to take this a step further tomorrow to talk about deep listening.
But just today,
I want you to reflect on the different quality of what it is to be heard and not heard.
And just to be present to,
What would it be like?
To be present to that space of being heard,
Being listened to.
What if you could walk through life feeling those qualities?
That's what I'm asking you today.
What would it be like to walk through life feeling those qualities of freedom,
Of lightness,
Of connection?
What would that be like?
And we're going to explore tomorrow.
Deep listening.
And what it actually is,
Because it's much more than just listening out for what the other person is saying.
So join me again tomorrow for another five minutes in nature and let me know your reflections on what it would be like for you to walk through life with a feeling of lightness and ease.
