She muses

Listening is noting what, when and how something is being said. Listening is distinguishing what is not being said from what is silence. Listening is not acting like you’re in a hurry, even if you are. Listening is eye contact, a hand placed gently upon an arm. It is neither analyzing nor racking your brain for labels, diagnoses, or remedies. Listening creates a safe space where whatever needs to happen or be said can come. Allison Para Bastien author, midwife

Now that most of you are back at work, I invite you to take up the real challenges of deep listening:
* To keep your focus fully and deeply on the speaker
* To create a bubble of peace, slowness, and presence in the middle of the rush of daily life
* To listen through the OTHERS frame of reference
* To suspend judgment while listening
* To listen without rehearsing what you’re going to say next
* To listen even to something that sounds like what you’ve heard with fresh ears
* To listen as if you might hear or learn something precious
* To listen as an act of love

Adapted from the practices of Robert Gass.