Simple Meditation: Deep Listening

This simple meditation will help you get more in touch with the deeper meaning of listening.

Listen...
We are continually hearing information from the world around and within us.
Minimize distortion by turning down the volume of your internal dialogue.
Imagine that the universe is about to whisper the answer
to your deepest questions... and you don't want to miss it!

Listen...
Simply, and without analysis or commentary
to whatever sounds enter the sphere of your awareness.
Trust.
Let go of control. Be at ease. Still...
quiet...
receptive...
Notice how sounds arise...
and fade away...
Melting into silence or into other sounds. Don't try to hold them,
allow them to flow...

Listen...
Where do the sounds go? Listen...
Where do the sounds come from? Listen... Experience how the space of your awareness
effortlessly accommodates an interpenetrating
symphony of sounds, thoughts, sensations, feelings,
and visions simultaneously.
Allow, your body-mind to relax
into unencumbered clarity...

Listen...
Allow the answers to these questions to come as understanding,
not as thoughts.

Listen...
And reflect...
Who is listening?
The more and more you listen,
the more and more you will hear.
The more you hear, the more and more deeply
you will understand.

Try this simple meditation in nature to extend the initial range of sounds available as you begin listening.

[Adapted from the book "The Fine Arts of Relaxation, Concentration, and Meditation" by Joel & Michelle Levey]