I love the sentence from an old Buddhist text ( I forgot which one): “ All who love are healers of those who need it.” We serve in many ways, including acts and words of kindness and encouragement, holding each other in a positive and constructive light, but one of the most powerful healing tools is through listening with the heart. It is a matter of moving out of the head and into that sacred space.

Many relationships are in jeopardy today in partnerships, families, communities and the work place because people do not listen to each other. It leads to anger, resentment, frustration and a feeling of being unimportant, even irrelevant. How often have you heard the common complaint of Inner Child work that a person was not heard? Decades later they still carry a sense of low self-esteem and lack of confidence because as children they were not acknowledged by this simple act of containment through listening.

Globally, listening has become an imperative. A couple of years ago a major participant at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland said “ The real problem we have is that everybody is talking and no-one is listening”. In America and other countries major organizations and institutions, including the Global Leadership Forum, are investigating how some of the really tough problems of the world can be resolved without resorting to force. Time and time again, the answer has been simple but not easy. The solution many have come to is that they have to bring about a different form of communication. Instead of just downloading their point of view and perspective leading to endless, fruitless debate, they have introduced what is called a generative dialogue, dialogue which produces results. Whereas the old was closed and unproductive, generative dialogue is open and constructive.

That this method is opening up communication through listening is hardly surprising. There are so many texts on marriage, business management, and negotiation on this topic, including references in old philosophical and religious texts. The Old Testament exhorts us to “Listen ye, to your brother” The Sufis say “The living thing in the heartis love. It may come forth as kindness, friendship, sympathy, listening…”

What amazes me is how this simple shift in how we perform this basic, social action can unlock the most complex and stuck problems in whatever environment they are. True listening literally creates miracles. I believe that listening is just a beginning, a training for the purest of dialogue where there is a merging with another, a “we and an us”, an “I and Thou” as Martin Buber would say. This is the expression of oneness which many of us long for.

Excerpt from Natalia's article "The Listening Heart" published in Odyssey Magazine

Natalia Baker's Upcoming Events at Novalis Ubuntu during January 2010

Full Moon Meditations

Next one is this Saturday 30th January at 7:30pm

Conducted by spiritual teacher Natalia Baker, these meditations are designed to help us attune by opening the heart, thus enabling us to receive the great potential each Zodiac sign holds for the realization of the Self and the healing of humanity. A Deeksha blessing will be given on most evenings. More information at www.nataliabaker.com. Value: 30 at the door.

Authentic Power 6-Week Workshop

Starts 15th February 7:00pm - 9:00p

Take back your soul power and watch your outer life change and the planet heal.  This profound, dynamic, creative, challenging and fun 6-Week course that will enable you to do all this and more!  Understand and live by your own authentic power, create your life through choice and intention, the new energy fuels be truthful to your inner self... (Read More..)