I had a really stressful professional presentation to give. I managed to get ideas together and to write down a few very important thoughts, but I was not really thinking very clearly. Fear and stuck feelings were getting in the way. This is the story of one messy project and how a listening partnership helped clean it up.
I had only a few minutes that day with my listening partner. I sat huddled in my car, waiting outside my daughter’s high school before I would take her to another activity. It seemed every other parent in the known universe was also in the car during this time, evidenced by the line of cars piling up all around mine. I was in a peaceful bubble with a listening partner on the line with me. As I talked and she listened, across many state lines, I could feel her presence. I started to talk about my worries about the worst thing that could happen with this talk the next morning. Safely floating above this sea of cars gave me a powerful sense. It whispering to me You are not alone. It felt huge and earth shifting.
As I reflected more on this, I realized that I was carrying some really painful memories from older times when I needed someone to be there. The listening partnership time where I got to talk about my fear with someone who was really there and really listening helped me to wipe the cobwebs from that time. I could feel it still, mucking up the works. Clearing it out helped me in the short term, and was also the beginning of some larger healing.
In the small piece of listening time I spent that afternoon, I was able to receive a big gift: support to think clearly. Please join me for a free Listening Partnership training to get started using this powerful tool.
Listening for Good 