A Holy Silence

When you are in a conversation with someone, do you feel connected or like you are each giving a monologue? 

Shortly before his untimely death, the great Irish poet, John O'Donahue, talked about beauty in general, and specifically about the beauty of listening in his interview with Krista Tippett, for her podcast, On Being, on Feb. 10, 2022. 

He said that we often miss the beauty of a real conversation, when two people end of talking at each other without deep listening. He likened it to two people giving monologues.

My ears perked up. I have felt this! I have tried to bridge the gap. I have gotten quieter. I have interrupted. Anything to feel connected. But sometimes I have lacked the skill.

As a doula, I get to listen to people who are at the end of their lives, as well as their loved ones. As a conscious dying educator and facilitator of Death Cafes for five and a half years, I get to listen to people talk about all things death and dying, as well as grief and loss.

I love listening. 

"Listening creates a holy silence. When you listen generously to people, they can hear truth in themselves, often for the first time. And in the silence of listening, you can know yourself in everyone. Eventually you may be able to hear, in everyone and beyond everyone, the unseen singing softly to itself and to you." - Rachel Naomi Remen

What more is there to say?