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Practicing the Sacred Art of Listening: A Guide to Enrich Your Relationships and Kindle Your Spiritual Life
Poor listening leads to misunderstandings and lost opportunities. Learning to listen well requires spiritual practice. It happens at work and at home, with strangers and close friends, in heated debates and in quiet conversations―you hear someone speaking, but often you don't truly listen . Kay Lindahl’s highly respected workshops are attended by people from a broad range of backgrounds. Her first book, The Sacred Art of Listening , has been published to acclaim in North America, Europe and Asia. Now she offers practical, easy-to-follow advice and exercises to enhance your capacity to listen in a spirit-filled way. Using examples from her own life and her work as a teacher of the sacred art of listening, Lindahl explores the nature and use of silence, reflection and divine presence as foundational qualities of listening and shows you how you can apply these in your everyday life. This valuable workshop-in-a-book examines the varied ways we are called to deep listening, including: You will find yourself inspired to discover how different your conversations will be when you stop just talking and start really listening.
- GenresSpirituality
176 pages, Paperback
First published September 1, 2003
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65 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
February 6, 2014
This has some great tools and practices for groups and individuals
November 15, 2023
This seems to be an overall accessible and helpful resource for introducing contemplative listening. A handful of practices she puts forward may seem a bit "out there" for some, and the Lindahl's underdetermined spiritual language may set off alarms for some conservative readers, but she's ultimately practical and largely concise in a book that, frankly, isn't any more ambitious than it needs to be. One may only wish that her final chapter on daily practices was a bit more discerning and pragmatically oriented as she lists activities and advice seemingly indiscriminately (and possibly in stream of consciousness), and readers will have to sift through items like "memorize a poem" and "hand a child a leaf" in order to find suggestions on how to more directly exercise listening skills.
April 10, 2021
Wonder, practical, and easy primer on listening. A super resource for all as it addresses listening in all relationships.
May 17, 2025
Practicing the Sacred Art of Listening: A Guide to Enrich Your Relationships and Kindle Your Spiritual Life (The Art of Spiritual Living) by Kay Lindahl is worth reading. The only reason I gave four stars is that I have already read Thich Nhat Hanh's Silence: The Power of Quiet in a World Full of Noise. Kay Lindahl introduced Hanh in her book.
I will jot down what will help me practice being silent in the future.
As we practice being silent inside, we make more room for others.
There is nothing so much like God as silence- Meister Echhart (14th century)
One of my patients told me that when she tried to tell her story, people often interrupted to tell her that they had once had something just like that happen to them. Her pain became a story about them. (This is exactly what I do without exception, and I was startled to read this and decided I would be cautious not to do it.)
If we are speaking just hear ourselves talk, it is a disservice.
When you are listening, suspend assumptions.
Honor confidentiality.
When you are listening to someone and he stops speaking, wait three or four seconds before you
respond. The other person often has more to say, which will be lost if you jump in right away.
Honor silence and time for reflection.
Empower a person to discover the solution on his or her own.
How we listen can alter someone's life.
Practice listening.
The more intently I listen, the less I find that I have to say. I speak when I feel called to do so.
How do I access deep listening to myself and to others?
I will jot down what will help me practice being silent in the future.
As we practice being silent inside, we make more room for others.
There is nothing so much like God as silence- Meister Echhart (14th century)
One of my patients told me that when she tried to tell her story, people often interrupted to tell her that they had once had something just like that happen to them. Her pain became a story about them. (This is exactly what I do without exception, and I was startled to read this and decided I would be cautious not to do it.)
If we are speaking just hear ourselves talk, it is a disservice.
When you are listening, suspend assumptions.
Honor confidentiality.
When you are listening to someone and he stops speaking, wait three or four seconds before you
respond. The other person often has more to say, which will be lost if you jump in right away.
Honor silence and time for reflection.
Empower a person to discover the solution on his or her own.
How we listen can alter someone's life.
Practice listening.
The more intently I listen, the less I find that I have to say. I speak when I feel called to do so.
How do I access deep listening to myself and to others?
May 30, 2012
"When hearts listen, angels sing." - Anonymous
Reminding us that some consider listening to be the highest gift, the author provides practical tips and exercises for honing listening skills.
Reminding us that some consider listening to be the highest gift, the author provides practical tips and exercises for honing listening skills.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews