Listening

This is one of my favorite sculptures in DeCordova's sculpture garden—Joseph Wheelwright's "Listening Stone".

To listen means bending one's ear to the ground, attending with all attention. How often in this world of multi-tasking, surplus of information, blaring sound, do we really listen?

I think that when we really listen to what someone is saying we stop all the whirring in our minds and cocoon around the words. To engage in dialogue is to make a commitment to listen, to take notice.

When I listen without waiting for my turn, without looking for a way to refute, I enter a different space—even for a short while.