Deep Listening Quotes

• I took a deep breath and listened to the old bray of my heart. I am. I am. I am.

  Sylvia Plath

  Inspirational, Life, Inspiring

  68 Copy quote

• The unexpected action of deep listening can create a space of transformation capable of shattering complacency and despair.

  Terry Tempest Williams

  Space, Listening, Despair

  Terry Tempest Williams (2012). “When Women Were Birds: Fifty-four Variations on Voice”, p.59, Macmillan

  50 Copy quote

  Show source

• The many ways to listen have been reaching into me for years. To enter deep listening, I've had to learn how to keep emptying and opening, how to keep beginning. I've had to lean into all I don't understand, accepting that I am changed by what I hear.

  Mark Nepo

  Years, Listening, Way

  Mark Nepo (2013). “Seven Thousand Ways to Listen: Staying Close to What Is Sacred”, p.13, Simon and Schuster

  3 Copy quote

  Show source

• You can practice deep listening in order to relieve the suffering in us, and in the other person. That kind of listening is described as compassionate listening. You listen only for the purpose of relieving suffering in the other person.

  Nhat Hanh

  Communication, Order, Practice

  12 Copy quote

• Deep listening is the kind of listening that can help relieve the suffering of another person. You can call it compassionate listening. You listen with only one purpose: to help him or her to empty his heart. Even if he says things that are full of wrong perceptions, full of bitterness, you are still capable of continuing to listen with compassion. Because you know that listening like that, you give that person a chance to suffer less.

  Nhat Hanh

  Heart, Compassion, Giving

  Interview with Oprah Winfrey, www.oprah.com.

  25 Copy quote

  Show source

• Deep Listening is listening in every possible way to everything possible to hear no matter what you are doing. Such intense listening includes the sounds of daily life, of nature, or one's own thoughts as well as musical sounds. Deep Listening represents a heightened state of awareness and connects to all that there is. As a composer I make my music through Deep Listening

  Pauline Oliveros

  Musical, Listening, Matter

  36 Copy quote

• One way to practice staying present is to simply sit still for a while and listen. For one minute, listen to the sounds close to you. For one minute, listen to the sounds at a distance. Just listen attentively.

  Pema Chodron

  Buddhist, Distance, Practice

  Pema Chodron (2009). “Taking the Leap: Freeing Ourselves from Old Habits and Fears”, p.19, Shambhala Publications

  9 Copy quote

  Show source

• Deep listening is miraculous for both listener and speaker. When someone receives us with open- hearted, non-judging, intensely interested listening, our spirits expand.

  Sue Thoele

  Summer, Communication, Judging

  Sue Patton Thoele (2000). “Heart centered marriage: fulfilling our natural desire for sacred partnership”

  24 Copy quote

  Show source

• Healing depends on listening with the inner ear - stopping the incessant blather, and listening. Fear keeps us chattering - fear that wells up from the past, fear of blurting out what we really fear, fear of future repercussions. It is our very fear of the future that distorts the now that could lead to a different future if we dared to be whole in the present.

  Marion Woodman

  Fear, Future, Healing

  103 Copy quote

• May we try to listen and be silent in order to make space for the beauty of God.

  Pope Francis

  Order, Space, Trying

  12 Copy quote

• Deep listening helps us to recognize the existence of wrong perceptions in the other person and wrong perceptions in us.

  Nhat Hanh

  Perception, Listening, Helping

  5 Copy quote

• Reconciliation is a deep practice that we can do with our listening and our mindful speech. To reconcile means to bring peace and happiness to nations, people, and members of our family.... In order to reconcile, you have to possess the art of deep listening.

  Nhat Hanh

  Art, Mean, Order

  Thich Nhat Hanh (2008). “For a Future to Be Possible: Easyread Large Bold Edition”, p.56, ReadHowYouWant.com

  51 Copy quote

  Show source

• I trust the mystery. I trust what comes in silence and what comes in nature where there's no diversion. I think the lack of stimulation allows us to hear and experience a deeper river that's constant, still, vibrant, and real. And the process of deep listening with attention and intention catalyzes and mobilizes exactly what's needed at that time.

  Angeles Arrien

  Real, Thinking, Rivers

  40 Copy quote

• Deep listening is experiencing heightened awareness or expanded awareness of sound and of silence, of quiet, and of sounding - making sounds.

  Pauline Oliveros

  Silence, Listening, Sound

  Source: artsmania.ca

  15 Copy quote

  Show source

• Wrong perceptions cannot be removed by guns and bombs. They should be removed by deep listening, compassionate listening, and loving space.

  Nhat Hanh

  Gun, Space, Perception

  Interview with Oprah Winfrey, www.oprah.com.

  5 Copy quote

  Show source

• One hour of compassionate deep listening can bring about transformation and healing.

  Nhat Hanh

  Healing, Coaching, Listening

  6 Copy quote

• Deep Listening is listening to everything all the time, and reminding yourself when you're not. But going below the surface too, it's an active process. It's not passive. I mean hearing is passive in that soundwaves hinge upon the eardrum. You can do both. You can focus and be receptive to your surroundings. If you're tuned out, then you're not in contact with your surroundings. You have to process what you hear. Hearing and listening are not the same thing.

  Pauline Oliveros

  Music, Mean, Focus

  39 Copy quote

• I am committed to cultivating loving speech and deep listening in order to bring joy and happiness to others and relieve others of their suffering.

  Nhat Hanh

  Inspiring, Order, Joy

  Thich Nhat Hanh (2009). “Answers from the Heart: Practical Responses to Life's Burning Questions”, p.87, Parallax Press

  3 Copy quote

  Show source

• I am determined to practice deep listening. I am determined to practice loving speech.

  Nhat Hanh

  Practice, Listening, Speech

  Thich Nhat Hanh, Sherab Chodzin Kohn (2011). “True Love: A Practice for Awakening the Heart”, p.88, Shambhala Publications

  9 Copy quote

  Show source

• There is space for a different kind of investigative reporting that's about immersion and obsessive attention to detail and deep listening.

  Sarah Stillman

  Space, Listening, Details

  Source: www.guernicamag.com

  4 Copy quote

  Show source

• You who are journalists, writers, citizens, you have the right and duty to say to those you have elected that they must practice mindfulness, calm and deep listening, and loving speech. This is universal thing, taught by all religions.

  Nhat Hanh

  Practice, Meditation, Listening

  Thich Nhat Hanh, Sherab Chodzin Kohn (2006). “True Love: A Practice for Awakening the Heart”, p.92, Shambhala Publications

  6 Copy quote

  Show source

• In my Deep Listening class at RPI, I always do an hour of energy exercises to start with. Then we do a listening meditation after that, after the body has been loosened up and warmed up and is ready. We do the listening. After that, there's the journaling of the experience, which they do each time throughout the semester to the point that I have them write a final paper on what they've experienced.

  Pauline Oliveros

  Writing, Exercise, Class

  Source: www.artpractical.com

  3 Copy quote

  Show source

• The mission [of institution] won't change. It will continue to be what it is: to spread the practice of deep listening and introduce it to people, to do workshops and retreats and certification programs and so on.

  Pauline Oliveros

  Practice, People, Listening

  Source: www.artpractical.com

  3 Copy quote

  Show source

• Deep listening is the kind of listening that can help relieve the suffering of another person. You can call it compassionate listening. You listen with only one purpose: to help him or her to empty his heart.

  Nhat Hanh

  Heart, Empathy, Listening

  Interview with Oprah Winfrey, www.oprah.com. March, 2010.

  31 Copy quote

  Show source

• Attentive listening to others is important regardless of their stations and positions. Wise people consider the deep meaning and true values of all suggestions. Learning and teaching are exchanged joyfully through deep listening and mutual appreciation.

  Chungliang Al Huang

  Wise, Appreciation, Teaching

  15 Copy quote