I’m excited to share news about this upcoming opportunity: an invitation to join in a group planning for a World Day of Listening, for free, to anyone. This comes at a good time. As Greg Madison, one of the event organizers put it “It just seems that so much is happening so fast in the world these days. There seems too much output, so little pausing and reflecting and really listening before reacting… If we just took one day, just one day where everyone had the chance to really listen to each other … Maybe we could shift a little towards understanding why someone thinks and feels and votes a certain way, why someone needs something so badly that they will kill for it… Humans are built to take in each other’s experience and reflect it back in a deeper way. We are meant for listening, dialogue, processing the feelings of another.”
It’s easy to feel like our culture is unsupportive of listening. As a psychotherapist I’ve had the good fortune to work with many people who have learned to listen to their feelings, and they have shown me the benefits of doing that. One woman said that for years, even before a cancer diagnosis, she had just become used to “stuffing my fears”; people who were well meaning, would say to her when she expressed fear about her critical illness, “don’t worry, it’ll be fine.” 
She admitted that trying to ignore her fears didn’t make them go away; it just made her feel alone with her feelings and they remained inside as a heavy feeling. She told me that “opening up” to her feelings about these fears was different from what she expected. Instead of discouraging her, giving her feelings the attention they had been needing, made her feel stronger. Another woman, whose reaction to her cancer was complicated by a history of losses, had worried initially that her sadness would simply “take over.” As she began to practice listening, the key in moving forward from her sadness she said, was learning to let go of her usual labels and analyses of her feelings, “basically to get out of my head”. Instead she started to sense feelings freshly, in the present moment. She stopped dreading her sadness and was able to be curious. When she felt sad, rather than avoid it, she paid attention patiently. After that, she told me that when she listened to her sadness, instead of feeling it swallowing her up, she got in touch with a new positive aspect to her sadness that gave her more perspective, as she recalled positive memories of those she had lost. People who are dealing with strong emotions…who don’t want to deny or avoid their feelings, have learned how to make listening and mindfulness a part of their lives. (The combination of inner attention, awareness, and non-judging, enables us to acknowledge and be more actively compassionate and understanding rather than passively helpless with our feelings). We would all be wise to learn and practice what these people have come to know! As another member of the World Day of Listening group said, Listening to each other, without any agenda, could contribute to peace by reducing fear, open up and experience connection between strangers. Join the “World Day of Listening” on FB and contribute with your experiences, suggestions and comments.” https://www.facebook.com/groups/Worldlistening/
Marsha Smith
As a psychotherapist for 25 years, I support people to find solutions, make changes to deal well with life challenges and have more satisfaction in life. I offer empathic and practical approaches to help with a variety of psychological and social challenges, including relationship issues, anxiety, depression, parenting, work, grief, and coping well with health issues. My collaborative approach helps you increase your ability to deal with stress and frustration with more calm and take the next steps to creatively solve problems. I work with adults and couples and offer training and consultation. Please contact me if you would like to know more and I would be happy to answer your questions.
From comments from a client: “Marsha has an intuitive sense of how to gently guide me to help myself and find clarity in my thinking. She leads me to insights and ‘solutions’ that I find within myself. I would recommend her to anyone in need of an advocate of his or her own spirit and inner knowing” -JB
Credentials: MSW, LCSW