So in this class I'd like to talk about the quality of mindful listening and those

of you that were just meditating with us got a taste of it. So it looks

for the the challenges and the blessings that come and to begin just to share

one minister described giving a sermon and having two teenage girls sitting in

the in the group that were kind of giggling and disturbing people so he in a

real stern way said you know there are two of you out there who've not heard

a word I've said and that quieted them down and he said that when the

service was over and he's you know standing and greeting people at the front

door there were four or five members of the parish that apologized

profusely for going to sleep during his talk. That was great. So let me ask you

this how many of you have becoming a better listener as one of your

aspirations it's part of your consciousness and for those that aren't here

at most hands are up certainly me too. So we we know that having a true

listening presence when we're with others it's difficult you know we easily

tune out we get distracted we have a sense that we're too busy to really be

here for this in this moment and and we get caught in our own thoughts and

are rehearsing what we're going to say. So it's a challenge and yet it's a deep

intuitive knowing for most of us that right at the center of any really intimate

relationship is this capacity to listen. On Paul Telek said it's the the first

responsibility of love is to listen. I think that's so powerful the first

responsibility of love is to listen. So it's it's our medium of connecting it's

our way we listen to understand if if a child's trying to tell us something

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