How Listening Can Lead to Better Relationships

I was talking with Sarah today, a client who came for the Four-Day Intensive. She was describing how her life has continued to change since the intensive. This is a woman who has struggled with relationships. As we discovered during the intensive, some of her relationship issues came from having a mind that was constantly busy.  She had so much on her mind that it was hard for her to listen to people.  Oh, she could listen superficially, but mostly while she listened she had her own agenda on her mind.  So people felt like she was hard to connect with.  Her teenage kids were often angry with her because they felt like she didn’t listen to them or respect their requests.

During the intensive Sarah worked with the principles and her mind got much more settled and quiet.  She found herself noticing life around her in a way she hadn’t for a long time.  Many people experience this during meditation or sometimes yoga, but the principles helped Sarah awaken to the mental chatter she carried around with her moment-by-moment in her life.  Once she saw that, she was able to be more settled and present, even when she wasn’t meditating or doing yoga.  In fact, she said that even during these practices there was always mental background noise; it wasn’t until she saw what was going on her mind that she was able to back off from what she had been doing that kept her thoughts going.

But what was really interesting to me was what happened later, 3 weeks after the intensive had ended.  Sarah said that she continued to become more and more aware of the feeling state that she lived in, and knew from learning the principles that whatever feelings she experienced were a reflection of  Thought.  The more she tuned into this, the quieter her thoughts became.  It came to her like an insight, just a quiet thought arising in her mind out of the blue.  But it impacted her with the feeling insights have, of taking her out of her ordinary mindset into a different level of awareness.  Something new was happening in her brain.

Since then, Sarah said, her mind has been getting more and more quiet.  Even her yoga teacher, who has known her for years, commented on it, telling her he was grateful that something had helped Sara’s mind get more settled and quiet.

I could tell that it was already easier to connect with Sarah than it had been, and have great hope for how her quieter mind will bring more depth and connection to all her relationships, especially within her own family.