Ripples Of Listening - September 02

We often don’t realise the impact we have on someone’s life until much later. That’s why it feels so rewarding to hear how something we once did has truly supported another person. In today’s 5 Minutes in Nature, Liz reflects on the power of Wellbeing Listening training—and how its effects can ripple out into the world in surprising and beautiful ways.

Transcript

Hello and welcome to five minutes in nature with me Liz Scott and I've just walked up quite a steep hill in Dartmoor so I'm pausing to get my breath and as I do so I've just glanced down at the ground and can see little purple heads of heather peeping through. The bracken now really is distinctly going brown and golden around the edges and across the bracken ahead of me there are two rowan trees that have bright red berries contrasting against the green of their leaves. This really is all a sign that the seasons have changed as we move into September. This actually is one of my favourite times of year. There's something about September and slowing down a bit like I am now stopping taking a breath and knowing I'm moving into a slower season that I absolutely love and I'm actually here wanting to share with you something that I think is really helpful for all of us and it's that you don't know the impact that you have with somebody. Most of the time we have no idea and the other day I bumped into somebody I'd known her a few years ago as a an artist and she was an artist that went out in nature she ran small groups she worked in the community and she had been to some really tough war zones that had left her feeling troubled very troubled and she'd come back to the UK to settle and to heal that's what she was doing and she came on one of the well-being listening programmes that I ran in Ivy Bridge. If you're interested in well-being listening I've got a course here which is an introduction to well-being listening that you might like to listen on Insight Timer and she'd been on the training and I hadn't really sensed that she'd fully engaged that was my sense but she'd come and she'd said she'd enjoyed it and that was it and we hadn't seen each other for probably two years and then I suddenly bumped into into her and just called out her name I'll call her Jane. Jane I said how are you doing she was sort of striding by me she hadn't seen me and she went from a quite a serious look on her face of somebody who was on a mission to to get somewhere quickly and she broke out into the most radiant smile and she said oh Liz I'm so glad I saw you and I said I really want to know what you're up to and where are you because she'd moved away what are you doing and she told me that she had become a teacher an art teacher she was feeling really settled she was feeling really fulfilled in the job and then she said something which really just surprised me she said and I really want to thank you for the well-being listening she said it really changed things for me it's really changed the way that I listen and in my new role as a teacher I want to teach the students about well-being listening because I think it's so important and I was a little bit flawed because I just hadn't had that impression that she had really taken on board well-being listening so she went on to explain how in her role she was so much better able to allow students who were upset to settle on their own she said there was a student that came into the staffroom very upset very agitated and I was asked to keep an eye on this student and usually I would have fussed around saying how are you do you want a cup of tea can I help you what's going on she said but I didn't I just gave them the space to settle and they knew I was there if they needed me and she said I really watched this student go from unsettled to settled I saw the natural way that somebody settles and that's she said it's been such an eye-opener for me I don't feel I have to rescue people all the time so today I am reflecting on the impact we might have on people but just never know if I hadn't bumped into that lady Jane I wouldn't have known that she'd been so impacted so you never know in your day-to-day life the impact you have with the people you meet and I think that's so important to remember

Reviews

It just goes to show that even if we are finding the interaction tough, if it's done with empathy and gentleness, the outcome may be a positive one. Be kind, always.

I would like my impact on people to be a positive one too…