Listening Beyond Words

Most of us hear through words. This is how we understand what others are trying to tell us. Many of us who are trained in some form of counseling, or healing therapies etc., in addition to listening to words, have been trained to "hear" in many other ways as well, body language, facial expressions, tone etc. But I never quite realized how little we "hear" when we understand the words spoken to us. The words themselves distract us from truly listening in other ways and so even the most trained and experienced person will still be influenced by the words themselves. I didn't understand just how true this was until I began eating 3 meals a day at a table with 3 other people who speak Hindi among themselves...(like Hebrew, every once in a while an English word will be thrown in, but it is never enough to help you know what is going on...just an annoying hint and proof of how much you are left "out in the cold" when you don't know a language)...what I have begun to feel very deeply, is how body language, the twitch of a nose, the lift of an eyebrow, the quick almost unnoticed glance passed between two people, the tilt of a head, the movement of a hand...how all of these tell us soooooooo much about what is happening between these people...no matter how softly the words are spoken, tension, anger, disappointment, are always so powerfully felt that you can almost touch the emotions in the air...and joy, surprise, peace etc., are felt just as strongly, and are much more conducive to pleasant eating...I know that I will never again stop listening to, or allow simple words to be the focus of my "hearing"...this has been a very powerful lesson for me...perhaps this should be part of all training courses for the listening professions...theory is always good, but nothing can compare to practical work "in the field"....