Listening Now Blog

I sent a copy of the I’m Listening Now DVD to my friend Helen Robinett who was going through a tough time.  Teenage daughter issues, new relationship issues, general living-life issues.  Helen is one smart cookie – she runs an impact-making business, she takes care of herself, she believes in self-responsibility, and she’s paying attention to her life.  Helen sees a psychologist when she needs to, she’s undergone a series of sessions with a professional coach when she’s felt called to, she reads stimulating things that nourish her heart, mind and soul.  And, like most of us, when going through a particularly challenging time, Helen didn’t quite have everything together.  Her emotions were fraying at the edges at times, she felt overloaded, overwhelmed, over it.

Got it? After I sent Helen the DVD, I checked that Australia Post had done its job and the package had arrived… A short “yep, it’s here” was the response I got.  Weeks went by and I heard nothing more from her.  I wondered if other things had taken priority and she hadn’t had a chance to use it yet.  Or maybe she had used the DVD and wasn’t sure what impact it was having – that can sometimes happen.   I decided not to ask and just let the situation play itself out – Helen would tell me what she wanted to tell me, when she wanted to tell me, and I’d just wait.   Cue repeat prescription of patience pills.

Not Angry Anymore. I saw Helen recently and she volunteered that she’d started to use the DVD.  She’d been writing in her journal and what she was writing about was how angry she felt.  After one I’m Listening Now session, complete with journaling, she let things sit.  What she started to notice was that the anger wasn’t there anymore.  It took a few days to recognise it – like when you turn off an air conditioner and you start to notice how quiet it is – all that ambient sound for so long and now: it’s quiet.  Then other sounds start to seep into your consciousness.  This was what Helen reported – the anger that had been there, wasn’t there anymore. 

Letting go. There is something truly magical that happens when you acknowledge, without judging, your emotional state.  It is like a magic button.  Pushing that button, through the claiming of your feelings, releases something powerful.  It may not make the emotional state disappear, but something shifts.  It’s like we’ve built up a hard casing around our emotions – particularly the ones we label as “negative” – and owning up to those emotions cracks the casing. 

In Helen’s words: “I’m Listening is a simple yet powerful process that really works for me.  It enabled me to recognise my own emotional state and have acceptance around just allowing it to be. As human beings I believe we often neglect our emotional wellbeing.  To recognise and accept how we feel about life issues is an empowering process”

Owning up to our emotions doesn’t have to be a public performance; in fact, it’s probably ideal if it’s a private experience.  Nobody but you needs to hear what you’re acknowledging, at least not to begin with.  Helen’s life hasn’t magically turned into a fairytale after using I’m Listening Now.   But there’s been a definite improvement in how she feels, how she views her life and place in the world and how equipped she is to deal with whatever happens.   Helen has since gotten a copy of the I’m Listening Now video downloads (same product, just different format to DVD) so she is generously giving away the DVD to one lucky reader of her newsletter.

Tune in. Over the next week I’m going to encourage you to tune in more to your emotional state.  Just notice more how you’re feeling.  And if you’re interested in this topic, you might want to check out e-Article #3.  Or, like Helen, you might find the video downloads make a real difference.