Summary: Listening, really listening, to your patients is a great way to create the healing space. Hopefully by now you are spending some time each day paying attention to your breathing and/ or your whole body breathing, sounds, thoughts or to nothing or everything. Next time you are with a patient, and it isn't some great emergency, pay attention to the patient and what they are saying. Pay attention to them and what they are saying the same way as you would pay attention to your breathing. The patient becomes the focus of your meditation. If a thought comes into your head, just let it go, and just stay with the patient and their story. Sit down if you can. Don't try to analyse them, don't try to use your intuition or to feel their vibe or anything hippy-ish. Just be there with the patient. Really hear what they are saying. If you can do this for 2 minutes without thinking about what you need to do to fix them, what your next job is, without thinking "this person is a drongo", it will make a huge difference. It seems like a waste of time, but actually your communication, and your own thinking, becomes much clearer and efficient. You will find you can actually get more achieved in a shorter time. The time invested in true listening always pays off. The same applies to your work colleagues. Stop and actually listen to them when they are talking to you. You will find communication is much clearer and efficient. You take everything in first time and pick up the subtle messages. You will soon have your patients and colleagues saying "Thanks for listening." They notice the difference because true listening is rare in our society. Make this your daily practice. It is easy to get sucked back into the old ways of rushing around and not really listening. Each day rededicate yourself to listening to your patients and your colleagues. Download audio
