Tell Me Your Story
Shippensburg University
Mindful Listening by Toru Sato
What is Tell Me Your Story? It
is an event in which any university student or employee can have a 1 on 1 meeting with
Toru and speak to him about whatever s/he feels like
for 1 hour. Toru will try the best he can to listen
compassionately and mindfully without interrupting. Unless he is
explicitly asked to do so, he will not offer any feedback or
suggestions. His roles is just to listen and try to understand by
putting himself in the other person's position. It is a space
designed for voicing ourselves, grieving, venting, as well as
self-discovery through contemplation and meditation (i.e., Who am I and
what do I really want?). If asked to
do so, Toru can also guide the student or employee through meditation
exercises to help bring about some clarity. Whatever is
discussed in the session is confidential to the fullest extent possible
under law.
How do I sign up for a Tell Me Your Story session? If
you are interested in a session, please send me an e-mail message to
tosato "at" ship "dot" edu with your name, days of the week and times
you are available. We will try to find a time we are both available
for an hour and schedule a session.
Why does Toru want to listen to your story? See quotes below...
"When you listen with your soul, you come into rhythm and unity with the music of the universe." John O'Donohue
"You wish to see? Listen; hearing is a step toward vision." St. Bernard of Clairvaux
"When you know how to listen, everybody is the guru, speaking to you right here... Always." Ram Dass
"The
friend who can be silent with us in a moment of despair or confusion,
who can stay with us in an hour of grief and bereavement, who can
tolerate not knowing, not curing, not healing... that is a friend who cares." Henri
Nouwen
"The
best gift we can offer our beloved is our true presence, our true
listening. We can ask our beloved one, 'Darling, do you think I
understand you enough? Please tell me how you are really doing. Please
open your heart and help me to understand your joys and difficulties,
so I can understand you and truly love you.'" Thich Nhat Hanh
"Those who are unhappy have no need for anything in this world but people capable of giving them their attention." Simone Weil
"Everything's already been said, but since nobody was listening, we have to start again." André Gide
"Attention is the most basic form of love." Tara Brach
"We
live in an era of radical brokenness. In all our relationships
everywhere we look in the global family, disconnection and fear of one
another. [It is] an increasingly noisy era. People shout at
each other in print and at work. The volume is directly related
to our need to be listened to." Archbishop Desmond Tutu
"The first duty of love is to listen." Paul Tillich
"To
listen is to continually give up all expectation and to give our
attention, completely and freshly, to what is before us, not really
knowing what we will hear or what that will mean. In the practice of
our days, to listen is to lean in, softly, with a willingness to be
changed by what we hear." Mark Nepo
"One of the tasks of true
friendship is to listen compassionately and creatively to the hidden
silences. Often secrets are not revealed in words, they lie concealed
in the silence between the words or in the depth of what is unsayable
between two people." John O'Donohue
"I have come to think listening is love, that's what it really is." Brenda Ueland
"Deep
listening is the kind of listening that can help relieve the suffering
of another person. You can call it compassionate listening. You listen
with only one purpose: to help him or her to empty his or her heart.
Even if s/he says things that are full of wrong perceptions, full of
bitterness, you are still capable of continuing to listen with
compassion. Because you know that listening like that, you give that
person a chance to suffer less. If you want to help her/him to correct
her/his perception, you wait for another time. For now, you don't
interrupt. You don't argue. If you do, s/he loses her/his chance. You
just listen with compassion and help her/him to suffer less. One hour
like that can bring transformation and healing." Thich Nhat Hanh
Thank you for listening.