Showing posts with label Heart Listening. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Heart Listening. Show all posts

Wednesday, July 24, 2024

Does He Know How to Listen?

Does He Know How to Listen?

By Steve Beckow

Posted on July 24, 2024


Does he know how to listen? Credit: Coursera

I was talking to a young friend the other day who may be entering a new relationship.

I imagined her asking me what she should look for in a relationship.

I had no problem answering that question. From my personal perspective?

Does he know how to listen?

If he knows how to listen, and you do as well, you have a chance to escape the cycle of conflict, which most relationships fall into at some point. (1)

How does listening work? Let me focus on what decades ago I used to call “restorative” listening because that’s the crucial type of listening, in my view, in a relationship.

We’re wanting to escape the cycle of conflict and it calls for a more intensive form of listening than ordinarily.

First thing is you don’t listen for what you want to hear. You listen for what he wants to tell you. He speaks because he wants you to hear and understand something. What is it?

Listening is not about you. It’s not about you reviewing what you just said to see how you did, when he’s speaking.

It’s not about you planning what you’ll say next. It’s not a pit stop where you change your tires while you get your next thought.

And it certainly isn’t about you interrupting his train of thought or walking away with the microphone. It takes work and concentration on our part to be the listener.

If anything it’s blue-sky stillness of mind into which is gathered all he says and spread out on the table – for him to see.

Second, moderate feedback is good.  It shows you’re listening. “You seem to feel sad. I hear the urgency of it. It sounds disturbing.” And then let it go.

Exception: It may further the process for you, at some point, to offer just a short insight about yourself (“I do that too”) to show you have an ante in the game. Be brief and then yield the microphone.

Third, listening is about you getting the real message that the speaker wants you to get. Sometimes that message – well, often, I think – is conveyed in or modified by gestures, inflection, mannerisms, etc.

The words may be different accompanied by different inflections. You need to “hear” everything to understand what the speaker is wanting you to get.

Fourth, treat everything he says as a chapter heading and unfold it. Don’t be surprised if he repeats the telling. The first time is for the story. The second time is for how he feels, now having seen the full story.

***

What’s the overall objective of listening of the kind I’m describing? It’s to give him the opportunity to put everything on the table and see what he’s doing and what barriers he’s meeting.

At some point he should have an “Aha!” and whatever troubled him will vanish. The truth will have set him free. (2)

This kind of listening should keep us out of the cycle of conflict if used lovingly, without judgment, and without undue interruption or redirection. It defuses. It satisfies. But it’s rare in our society.

It works provided the issues that are being discussed are solvable and the two people want a solution.

I always assume that the speaker knows what he needs. He just hasn’t been able to find anyone who will help by purely listening.

***

After G/NESARA (3) the remnants of a paradigm of a woman needing to rely on a man for her financial wellbeing will disappear. Poof! Women will have a guaranteed means of survival.

Then relationships may reflect the person’s pure interests and last as long as the two remain interested. There won’t be a need for marriage. They do not marry in heaven, remember? (4)

There’s no need for it. (5)

Footnotes

(1) See:

Cycle of Conflict:

We go around and around this cycle, our feelings for the other eroding a little more as we go, until we drop or leave. In a word? “Listening” is what’s missing. Oh, and love.

(2) And you can use the truth to guide you. If he is getting freer and freer of tension, the truth is being spoken. Barring venting, which is a good thing, if he’s getting more and more ornery, chances are there’s something not being said here.

Use the truth and his release as your guide in knowing what to listen to and what to gently inquire into (if it’s appropriate; don’t shanghai his share).

(2)  The Global/National Economic Security and Reformation Act, mandating a new economic order based on fairness, compassion, and universality.

See What’s Next?
 Vol. 5: G/NESARA at https://goldenageofgaia.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Whats-Next-5-2.pdf

(3) For when they shall rise from the dead [i.e., ascend]
they neither marry
nor are given in marriage;
but are as the angels
which are in heaven.
(Mark 12:25.)

(4) There are no reasons for marriage in the higher dimensions. There are no threats for which we need to bind together and bond. One doesn’t face a poverty-stricken old age.

I used to know about child-rearing on the higher planes, but I’ve forgotten and haven’t written on it.

People come together and part as they please, for as long as it rewards them. What makes all this possible is the love which we’ll also experience one day soon. If we felt  that love for a moment, all would make sense.

Everything about family, sexuality, etc., is different in the higher dimensions.

There’s a book waiting to be written. The closest I’ve come to it is New Maps of Heaven at https://goldengaiadb.com/index.php?title=New_Maps_of_Heaven


Steve Beckow

Sunday, March 31, 2024

There is No Greater Gift than Listening -4 Sharing and Listening

There is No Greater Gift than Listening 

Vol. 4 Sharing and Listening

By Steve Beckow

Posted on March 31, 2024


This fourth and last volume in this series looks at what is most valuable to listen to – a share.

A “share,” as it was known in the growth movement, is a deeper self-revelation than ordinary conversation.  It aims at the person being known to others, at a deeper level than like/dislike.

Deep listening invites deep sharing and deep sharing is what unveils the truth that sets us free.

Here then is a chapter on how sharing equalizes us because, whether we’re a prince or a pauper, we feel the same feelings and probably have many of the same thoughts.


Download There is no Greater Gift than Listening V4 Sharing and Listening here: https://goldenageofgaia.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/There-is-no-Greater-Gift-than-Listening-V4-Sharing-and-Listening.pdf



All Shares Are Born Equal

March 6, 2009

A “share” happens when I tell the truth about myself. That truth may be a felt truth, a believed truth, a known truth, a perceived truth, etc. What one share holds in common with another is its relationship to the truth – my truth.

I use “shares” as the major tool of my emergence. I use my shares to strip off layer after layer of the onion of self-protection until what is left is nothing but transparency.

I retreat from sharing when I feel my survival, or the survival of anything with which I identify, seems at stake. The more I’m into survival, the less I share, unless I break through (i.e., emerge).

Usually when I haven’t shared, the reason is the same: I fear you. I fear what you will do to me. I fear giving you information about myself. I’m protecting myself from you.

A share is not a download of factual information. It is not a scientific assertion. It is not the “truth” about someone else. A share is the truth about me, from me, to you. Your share would be the truth about you, from you, to me.

My share is neither more nor less important than yours. As far as I’m concerned, all shares are born equal. Shares are the great equalizer. King or commoner, everyone has a truth to tell. I seldom tire of listening to your truth.

A share is only “verifiable by me.” I’m the expert on what I’m feeling inside this rental unit. You may know my habits, my acts, my opinions, but you’ll probably never know the truth for me.

And even if you think you do, whether or not that is actually the truth for me is something only I can say. Even if I lie, I remain the last word on what the truth really is for me.

Where I’m at with my life is where I’m at. It is neither better nor worse than where you’re at with yours. All of us go through the same steps from God to God. Some of us were released as sparks earlier than others. But all travel the same general road to the same specific Destination.

If I’m in Seattle and you’re in Chicago, if my time zone is Pacific Standard and yours is whatever it is, what difference? The same with shares.

Something shared is past. Release comes only from the next share. The value that I receive from sharing is not something I can put in a piggy bank. Yesterday’s share is gone.

Everything now rests on the share of this moment.

I know when I’ve shared the truth because I feel release. The truth has set me free. I know when I haven’t shared the truth because I feel stress. Moving away from the truth has further bound me.

My share, to be of any value, does not rip your face off. Since a share is about myself, staying with myself is one sure way to see that harmlessness prevails. Sharing maximizes harmlessness. If my sharing harms, there is no value to it.

Sharing takes me away from blame-based communication by centering my attention on me. I hear your share. I acknowledge it and mirror it back to you. Then I respond with how it is for me.

After a while, I no longer mind your business. The increasing release I feel from sharing captures my attention.

Hopefully you will no longer mind my business too, but the bigger gain is simply for me to keep on sharing no matter what you do.

Shares have their time and place. The traffic cop and the bus driver may not want to share with me. Air traffic controllers do not share with each other. I wouldn’t want a medic to collapse in tears at the sight of suffering, sharing how it is for him or her.

The President may, on occasion, not want to be transparent for the good of the nation. Not all the world’s business can be conducted through sharing, although an increase in sharing probably wouldn’t hurt.

Emergence is the name of the game for me. Your emergence is what I’m here for (mine too). I am a space to receive your share and in which the truth of mine arises.

https://goldenageofgaia.com/spirituality/communication-sharing-and-listening/all-shares-are-born-equal/


Download There is no Greater Gift than Listening V4 Sharing and Listening here: https://goldenageofgaia.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/There-is-no-Greater-Gift-than-Listening-V4-Sharing-and-Listening.pdf

Steve Beckow

 
 

Friday, March 29, 2024

There is No Greater Gift than Listening - 2 How to Listening

There is No Greater Gift than Listening 

Vol. 2. How to Listening

By Steve Beckow

Posted on March 29, 2024


I’m listening

I’m so excited about this book that I’m jumping about in my seat as I post this.

I’m writing a series of books on listening in the hope that this now-seemingly-neglected skill becomes a cherished practice again in our now-global society.

All my life, I’ve valued listening. My soul-contract design team must have wanted this because I chose to be born the runt of the litter, to whom listening from the male side did not come easily.

Listening from the female side came very easily. I was amply gifted by my Mother. Everything I learned about listening I learned from trying to understand what it was she did that made her so beloved by her circle of friends.

From my experience as a grad student in Sociology, listening to other people as part of my small-groups studies, I know what a gift listening is.

I’ve seen people get the source of an ancient or a nuclear issue in their relationship and weep.  I listened to one person for eight hours. It was miraculous.

On the other hand, I’ve also seen people not let each other finish a sentence. And later they complain of having an empty life. Not surprisingly.

Listening is what’s seemingly lacking in our society. We promote bodily pleasures, but not the deep inner pleasure that comes from being heard.

An interesting side note was that, when I had a watershed spiritual experience, I had it because of something that arises from listening.

I’m referring to my vision of the purpose of life, which occurred on March 13, 1987. (1)

As I drove my car to work, I said to the universe, if people’s lives are a puzzle and, when it’s solved, the puzzle becomes a picture, could it be that life itself is a puzzle and, if so, what is the picture that life is?

Boom! The car went black and I was staring at an inner tableau or movie of the total journey of an individual soul from God to God.


The journey from God to God that all of us make

I emerged from that experience knowing that the purpose of life is enlightenment. (2)

For me, being given this experience was the highpoint of my then-active career as a promoter of listening. My work life took me in different directions and here we are.

But I’ve never lost the special place in my heart that those years of restorative listening brought, as well as the years with enlightenment intensives, which also revolved around listening.

A note on logistics. This book is a combination of posted articles and extracts from a manual on listening.

There may be some repetition that I haven’t caught. After the Reval, I’ll hire an editor to remove it. Right now, my priority is getting the message out. Very soon, with the advent of the emergency broadcasts, there may be a great number of us who need listening. And many of us who wonder how to do it.

I hope this book will supply that need.

I look forward to the years when our feeling of a lack of love is endlessly and forever filled to the brim with love. I predict a time and space will arrive for immensely-rewarding conversations, with speaking and listening equally balanced and equally supportive.


Download There is No Greater Gift than Listening – Vol. 2. How to Listen here:  https://goldenageofgaia.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/There-is-No-Greater-Gift-Than-Listening-V2-How-to-Listen-R5.pdf


Footnotes

(1) For the rest of the experience, see “Ch. 13. Epilogue” in The Purpose of Life is Enlightenment at https://goldenageofgaia.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Purpose-of-Life-is-Enlightenment-3.pdf

(2) The purpose of life is that God should meet God in a moment of our enlightenment. And for that purpose was all of life, all the universes, all matter (mater, Mother) created.

Steve Beckow

 
 

Friday, September 15, 2023

The Cycle of Conflict is a Relationship Killer

The Cycle of Conflict is a Relationship Killer 

By Steve Beckow

Posted on September 15, 2023

Part 1/2

 

Every relationship I’ve ever lost, I’ve lost to an inability or unwillingness on my part or someone else’s (or both) to handle conflict.


Download Leaving the Cycle of Conflict here: https://goldenageofgaia.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Leaving-the-Cycle-of-Conflict-17.pdf


I’m tempted to say that we don’t have “relationships.” We have connections that are wonderful to begin with and then are choked off by the cycle of conflict and die.

You hear that Jim and Jane are having troubles. Oh, they’re back together again. No, they’re having troubles again. No, they’re back. No, they’ve separated for good now.

Does that not sound familiar? I can name several couples exactly like that that I know – in fact, every couple who’ve ever separated. One of those repeat participants would be me.

No, we weren’t taught the way out in schools. I went to countless therapists, psychiatrists, etc., etc., and didn’t learn a thing.

The teachers that worked were in the growth movement. They were the ones ploughing new ground.

Ben Wong, Jock McKeen, Werner Erhard, Claude Bernier, the circuit riders, I could go on and on. I acknowledge your contribution to me. I say what I say next as the result of what you (and my guides) taught me.

Let me re-introduce my graphic here.

Conflict arises when we don’t get what we want or need and there’s no good and apparent reason why not.

Conflict arises when “delicate” subjects are avoided and yet must be addressed.

Conflict arises when one person does not care for another, not really, when people of good intent feel taken advantage of, when a person feels unlistened to, disrespected, unvalued.

When any or all of these conditions are present, we find our love for a person pitted against our desire or need for our request for support or change to be at least addressed, if not granted.

I’m only talking about those requests for support that are not listened to or not granted and we feel they should or need to be. These are at the heart of the conflict.

When the desire and the “access denied” both persist, frustration builds. The pressure of our withheld communications begins to distract us. If our intention to deliver the communication is thwarted again and again, more pressure is added.

Until something occurs that ignites an explosion. A triggering comment. A gesture or word of disrespect, a lack of appreciation, anything sets it off.

I’m serious about talking about this subject. I’d like everyone in our lightworker family here to get this cycle down to our toes. This is a relationship killer and it needn’t be happening.

We must have it be gone from our arsenal … errrr … repertoire of communicational strategies.

***

To review, first….

(Concluded in Part 2, below.)

Part 2/2

(Concluded from Part 1, above.)

To review, first, what happens in this cycle is that discussion of a matter is left until one party is ready to blow. That in itself is not a great strategy.


Download Leaving the Cycle of Conflict here: https://goldenageofgaia.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Leaving-the-Cycle-of-Conflict-17.pdf


Communication needs to happen sooner and on a regular basis until it becomes second nature. Until it flows, as it did with us after three months of encounter at Cold Mountain Institute.

Second, we have to be committed to this process – or get out of the relationship and save those who are committed a lot of trouble.

I know what love is (1) and I know that love cannot flourish in a relationship that doesn’t handle conflict.

If you’re a drama queen, this may be the wrong nest for you.  I’m only speaking to the committed. I know, I know. Tough words. But we are in the middle of a war; we need to communicate; and we can’t afford to watch frustration build in our lightworker relationships, not with a war on and a Reval coming.

Third, the speaker needs to communicate the information that’s vital. That is:

(A) How we’re feeling

(B) What we want to see happen

(C) What our situation is

(D) What role we’re willing to play

(E) What we need from the other person.

The other person needs to listen – really listen. (2) Not do two things at once. Not deny the person a face to speak to. Not be doing our shopping list in our head.

The listener now knows how the other person feels, which they can use to gauge the urgency of the situation. They know what the other person wants and what their situation is. They know what the speaker is doing and willing to do in the future about the situation and what help they need.

***

I’m only going to deal with “opening up” communication here. I’m not inspired, because that’s what’s happening, to discuss how the listener might want or need to respond to, address, or avoid conflict.

That inspiration hasn’t come through yet. You’ll be the first to know: “This just in!”

Unless a person is committed to drama, then going about communicating in a sincere and open way, without blaming or shaming, when a want or need comes up and being met and received by the other with a corresponding degree of sincerity should be enough to take the process of frustration build-up out of the relationship.

There is then the other side of the exchange: What we do with the communication. I’ll know more about that when the information comes in.

Seriously I have my overload limit. Where’s my coffee? One thing at a time here!


Download Leaving the Cycle of Conflict here: https://goldenageofgaia.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Leaving-the-Cycle-of-Conflict-17.pdf