Listening to the Song – Part 1

Tara Brach

Tara, Dharma, Selfhelp, Talks, Spiritual, Buddhist, Insight, Audio, Tarabrach, Mindfulness, Rain, Psychology, Compassion, Vipassana, Health & Fitness, Mental Health, Meditation, Guided, Brach, Buddhism, Religion & Spirituality

4.8 • 10.6K Ratings

🗓️ 24 July 2025

⏱️ 58 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Listening is more than a communications skill, it is a capacity that awakens our awareness. And given our current times, this capacity is essential if we are to navigate the great divides that separate us from our inner life and others. As we learn to listen inwardly, we begin to understand and care for the fears and vulnerability that ask for our attention. And as we listen to others, that same intimacy emerges. In this two-part series we examine the blocks to listening and the practices that cultivate this essential domain of human potential. Our focus is both on the transformational power of listening in our personal lives, and also the necessity for deep listening if we are to bring healing to our wider society.

In this talk, Tara explores:

how listening softens distance between hearts and invites deeper connection.
“listening to the song” as a way to honor the essence beyond our roles and stories.
common obstacles to presence—distraction, fear, and agendas that block true listening.
how deep listening can help heal old wounds, allowing love and aliveness to flow more freely.
listening with an undefended heart, willing to be changed by what we hear.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Greetings. We offer these podcasts freely and your support really makes a difference.
0:06.0	To make a donation, please visit tarabrock.com. Namaste, welcome friends.
0:29.9	So I'll begin with a teaching story and in this one a master asks his disciples,
0:37.1	you know, why do we shout in anger? Why do
0:39.0	people shout at each other when they're upset? And the disciples thought for a while and one
0:43.8	of them said, well, because we lose our calm and we shout for that. But why to shout when
0:49.7	the other person is just next to you? Isn't it possible to speak to them with a soft voice? Why do you
0:55.7	shout at a person when you're angry? And the disciples gave him some other answers but none
1:01.3	satisfied the master. So finally he explained, when two people are angry at each other,
1:07.8	their hearts distance a lot. To cover that distance, they must shout to be
1:13.7	able to hear each other. The angrier they are, the stronger they will have to shout to hear
1:18.6	each other through the great distance. Then the master asked, what happens when two people
1:24.4	fall in love? They don't shout at each other but they talk softly.
1:28.6	Why?
1:29.8	It's because their hearts are very close.
1:32.1	The distance between them is very small.
1:35.0	They can speak softly because they can listen and hear.
1:38.3	I really like the story.
1:42.4	It really resonates and perhaps you can feel that when our hearts are
1:45.8	close, when we're feeling connected, we can speak softly, we can listen deeply. And here we are
1:54.5	in our current really stressed world and people's hearts are distanced and we know this.
2:00.2	So there's a lot of anger and
	...

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