She muses

“To listen fully means to pay close attention to what is being said beneath the words. You listen not only to the ‘music,’ but to the essence of the person speaking. You listen not only for what someone knows, but for what he or she is. Ears operate at the speed of sound, which is far slower than the speed of light the eyes take in. Generative listening is the art of developing deeper silences in yourself, so you can slow our mind’s hearing to your ears’ natural speed, and hear beneath the words to their meaning.” Peter Senge

The practice continues>>> With each and every person with whom you speak, bring your deepest and most respectful quality of listening.

Deep listening depends on the extent to which we are present.
To really listen deeply, we have to be right here.
As if we were zooming in the focus of our attention onto the speaker and the rest of the world fades into the background.
We are listening with our ears and more.

Here are several major challenges we face to deep listening:

1. focus: losing focus on the speaker, drifting off
2. judgment: attention going to our internal commentary and evaluation of what the speaker is saying
3. rehearsal: working on our next comment/rebuttal rather than listening

What are you learning about your primary barriers to deep listening?
What gets in the way?
Do you tend to have an easier or more difficult time listening to certain people than others?
As you go about your listening practice, reflect on what you are learning about yourself and deep listening.

Adapted from the practices of Robert Gass.