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We'll be reflecting in this talk on the theme of deep listening.

And this is the second of a two-part series.

No problem if you miss the first. You can always listen to it, but they each will stand on their own.

So we've been looking at how we each flourish, both by learning to listen, truly listening, and of course by being listened to.

How much it matters to our heart, to our spirit.

So I happened upon a cartoon. This is of a man and a woman on their first date.

And his thought bubble is, I can't think of anything to say. She must sing a mototal bore.

And hers is, a man who actually listens to me. I think I'm in love.

You know, when we're in social situations, we can forget about how much others really want to be taken in.

Listen to, attended to, understood.

And we also lose sight of our own needs to be listened to.

How much that matters to us.

And maybe our deepest forgetting is how often we don't listen inwardly.

You know, we really don't often reconnect with ourselves when we most need to.

So our inquiry really is how to awaken a very pure listening presence.

And then there's a wise hint from the Zen tradition that says the quieter you become, the more you're able to hear.

So keep that in mind.

If we want to train in listening, we need to become aware of the trance, the thinking trance that we're usually caught in.

Some of you might have heard this from Winnie the Pooh, a Malm.

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