Listening: The Lost Compass

It's amazing how much you can glean and learn by listening. And I mean real listening, not 'hearing'. Nor am I talking of ''enter through this ear and exit through the other''.

Listening by feeling the words as they flow from the mouth. Listening by smelling the fragrance inherent in the syllables, phrases and/or clauses. Listening by tasting the rhythm and flow of the spoken words or sound and savoring their flavor. Such, my dear reader is the real beauty that has been lost on us the human race.

The human being has the capability of listening to virtually anything. We can listen to speech, music, body movement (body language), nature, and even silence. We can listen by reading as some people are doing as they read this my write-up. We can listen to anguish and pain when we see it just as we listen to joy and happiness which often-times we hearken to.

Now one might wonder what on earth is this bloke talking about?!! Well that's a classic example of us not listening!! We listen to the same story about life every single day but we fail to pick up on the moral of the story. Everything that's happening around us is one same story embellished with differing details yet having the same essence and it's just playing over and over on a loop. But alas no-one's listening!!

So you see, it is not only to speech that we fail to employ this lovely art but to virtually all the general details of our lives. How many people really listen to a song that we've heard repeatedly in a similar way to when we first got attracted to it? How many have listened, really listened to the environment around us telling us its' varied stories and state of being. How many have listened to the clock tick away telling us the very evident truth that we are moving towards something; that the wheels of time are turning?

I could go on and on but it would only make my point, pointless and less evident so I have chosen to cut this piece short. What I invite my reader to do is to re-read my presentation and pick on the salient points I have highlighted above. And this time employ his compass; listen. Thereafter, I hope he would find that as he continues his journey in life this compass called listening would better guide him through as it always shows the right path to follow. If in doubt listen to the heart; it'll confirm what I'm saying.

So happy listening.

Haidar Wali 201003210202hrs