Reset Day 2 Are You Listening?

Today you’re invited to engage with your sense of Hearing

Here’s how you might structure your day of listening..

Setting the tone

As soon as you wake up in the morning, before you open your eyes, see if you can remember to listen with purpose.

What do you hear straight away?

Spend as long as you choose allowing sounds to come to you without the need to label them.

Then set your intention to become more aware of the gift of hearing throughout the day, using, as far as you can, an open beginner’s mind.

5 Minute Listening Practice

Find a space where you won’t be disturbed.

Set your timer for 5 minutes and begin to listen, to observe sounds. Close your eyes.

Allow sounds to come to you rather than seeking them out.

You might start with sounds within your own body,

Sounds in the room,

Sounds beyond the room.

See if you can receive sounds as raw data, noticing their pitch, volume, speed. There’s no need to label the sounds or analyse them. Notice the silences too if there are any.

When you notice yourself thinking about sounds, bring your awareness back to the quality of the sound itself.

Suggestions for the rest of your day. It’s up to you how many and how often.

Set an alert on your phone for each hour to remind yourself to just stop and listen for a few moments. Close your eyes if you can and just drink in whatever you hear. Or stop whenever you remember and listen. Pick out 5 to 10 different sounds.

As you prepare any food, switch off the radio or TV, even for a few minutes, and notice how many different sounds you can hear.

At work, pause for a moment whenever you can and just listen. Notice your responses to what you can hear.

Listen to a piece of music and do absolutely nothing else.

When someone is talking to you, listen to the quality of their voice as well as their words. Notice volume, pace, pitch and timbre.

When you’re walking, no matter how far and where, try listening to the sounds of your footsteps.

In the car, try listening to the sounds of the traffic for a while, noticing your responses, your thoughts.

Listen out for different birdsong. Rather than trying to identify the bird, really soak up the different qualities of each sound.

Pause for a moment. What’s the quietest sound you can hear right now? And the loudest?

At the end of the day, reflect on the following 3 prompts in your notebook. (You could try talking this through with children)

Pick out 5 or more sounds today that you wouldn’t normally notice.
Which of the sounds you’ve heard today have given you the most pleasure and why?
What has today’s focus on listening revealed to you?