Your Ears: The Best Gift of All -- In Three Steps

Written by Stephanie West Allen


"Deep listening is miraculous for both listener and speaker. When someone receives us with open-hearted, non-judging, intensely interested listening, our spirits expand." Sue Patton Thoele

YOUR DE-TALK CENTER

Here is an excellent and effective way to improve your listening. Find your Listening Center, a place and a way your body can help you listen. Do just three things to put yourself in your Listening Center.

SHUSH, JJ

Remember Judgment Jabber (JJ), that internal voice that judges you? It can be a mighty powerful impediment to listening. It'srepparttar voice inside that tells you are doing something incorrectly, or you can't do something, or you are not doing well enough, or someone does not like you, or you are ignorant, or your hair is wrong. Recognize that voice?

Some of us are not aware that Judgment Jabber is talking to us and competing for our attention when we are trying to listen. Or that it is making us so nervous that we cannot listen well.

By becoming aware ofrepparttar 131167 voice, we very often lessen its negative effects. We can even talk to it. Give it a name and ask it to be quiet for a while. "Jezebel, I am busy listening right now. Shhh." You will be surprised at howrepparttar 131168 recognition can calm it. That'srepparttar 131169 first step in finding your Listening Center.

"The greatest motivational act one person can do for another is to listen." Roy E. Moody

DIS-ARMOR YOURSELF

We all have places in our body where we hold our tension -- our personal body armor. Mine is usually in my jaw. This tension can be a great interference with listening. However, if we are conscious of it, we can catch this tension when it begins to take hold, stop it and relax it. Check for your body armor when you are listening. Relaxing it isrepparttar 131170 second step in going to your Listening Center.

"Trees arerepparttar 131171 earth's endless effort to speak torepparttar 131172 listening heaven." Rabindranath Tagore

THE LISTEN POSITION

We have a certain posture, maybe more than one, which we associate with listening. Right now assume a posture that indicates that you are hearing just aboutrepparttar 131173 most boring person you have ever heard. That's your opposite-of-listening posture.

The Subconscious Link To Our Computer Desktop

Written by Sibyl McLendon


If you are a Windows user then you probably have some kind of a desktop theme or wallpaper on your desktop. They are fun, and you can download some very cool ones fromrepparttar Internet. I personally have a beautiful Celtic one that I downloaded, and I love it.

Recently, however, it came to my attention that our desktop themes and/or wallpaper can have a very subtle yet strong effect on us!

My husband went to Penn State University when he graduated from high school. He went inrepparttar 131166 early 70’s, atrepparttar 131167 height ofrepparttar 131168 hippie, sex-drugs-rock and roll era, whenrepparttar 131169 Vietnam War was in full swing and protesting it was what college students did. He was very much intorepparttar 131170 whole genre, and he got quite heavily intorepparttar 131171 drug and alcohol scene. He looked back on this time as fun and exciting, but alsorepparttar 131172 beginnings of a long-term problem with substance abuse.

Recently he wanted to change his desktop, so he picked a fun Penn State theme. It hadrepparttar 131173 fight song andrepparttar 131174 Nittany Lion, Penn State’s mascot.

After about a month of having this desktop theme on his computer he began having disturbing dreams. He dreamed repeatedly that he was back at Penn State. He had no money, had to sleep on park benches and he was constantly in search of drugs and a liquor store! He was quite confused by these dreams, and found them to be distressing.

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