Listening,
A meditation as poem.
Ask yourself,
Quietly,
Gently,
Patiently,
Am I listening?
Drop these words into the silence.
Wait for the responsive stillness of the body.
Am I listening?
Sit quietly,
Without straining.
Hang there in the space between the words.
Suspend everything but this.
Am I listening?
And let go.
Don't expect answers.
This is not a meditation about answers.
It's not a meditation about questions either.
Because both of these would require an outcome.
This is simply a practice in listening.
So ask yourself again with no expectation.
Am I listening?
Am I listening body?
Then open.
Listening is an opening.
Body.
I am listening.
Let the word body be an endearment.
Let it be a declaration of love,
This I am listening.
I am listening body.
Body.
I am listening.
It's like saying,
Dear one,
My love,
I am here.
I am here for you.
I am listening.
What's there?
What do you find in the space that opens after this loving no question question is asked.
Perhaps it is tears.
It is often tears for we long to be listened to.
Perhaps it is joy.
It is often joy because we long to be heard.
Perhaps it is stillness.
Perhaps it is numbness.
Perhaps it is acceptance.
Perhaps it is rejection.
Perhaps it is contraction.
Perhaps it is softening.
Sit with it.
Whatever it is that first arises,
Sit and listen.
Listen with your whole body the way you do when it's raining heavily and from your shelter,
Each splash of water,
Each falling drop can be felt through your skin reverberating so that listening is a knowing,
A felt sense.
Listen this way through your skin and down,
Down,
Down within,
Allowing the listening to drop deeply inside you.
I am listening belly.
I am listening heart.
Skin.
I am listening.
I am listening breath.
When you do this,
You may find that there is another listening rising out of your body to meet you.
You are being listened to.
Allow yourself to receive this listening,
This reciprocity of stillness,
Of silence.
Because do not be mistaken,
This is what listening is,
An opening.
Into silence,
Into stillness.
Relax into it.
Soften into presence.
This is who you are.
Keep dropping the question.
Dropping the question in and waiting,
Opening,
Listening.
Am I listening?
This stillness,
This silence,
It is all around you if you tune into it.
Feel it in the space of your room.
I am listening room.
Feel it in the space outside your window.
I am listening clouds.
Seeing that same attentive,
Waiting,
Listening presence to the whole world,
Eyes open with all your senses.
I am listening trees.
I am listening rain.
I am listening sky.
I am listening wind.
I am listening light.
In,
All.
.
.
.
.
.
