Compassionate Listening Quotes

When we honestly ask ourselves which person in our lives mean the most to us, we often find that it is those who, instead of giving advice, solutions, or cures, have chosen rather to share our pain and touch our wounds with a warm and tender hand. 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 and face with us the reality of our powerlessness, that is a friend who cares.

I feel as if sometimes women can't deal with what's going on and they have no one around who actually understands.

seeing with the eyes of another, listening with the ears of another, and feeling with the heart of another.

Listening can heal wounds.

The first service that one owes to others in the fellowship consists of listening to them. Just as love of God begins with listening to his word, so the beginning of love for our brothers and sisters is learning to listen to them.

You can never take those you love for granted, and you have to be willing to be open and really communicate with one another to make any relationship work. And that's just it: relationships take work, and they take compromise and compassion and understanding.

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 heart. Even if 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.

Those who have suffered make the best comforters.

When something tragic has happened, you'll find that you, the tragicee, become the person that has to make everything comfortable for everyone else.... As a tragicee and future divorcee, you'll also find that people will question you on the biggest decisions you've ever made in your life as though you hadn't thought about them at all before – as though, through their twenty questions and dubious faces, they're going to shine light on something that you missed the hundredth time around during your darkest hours.

Love begins with listening.

When he [Franklin Delano Roosevelt] advised millions of listeners in one of his fireside chats to “tell me your troubles”, most of them believed implicitly that he was speaking to them personally and immediately wrote him a letter. It was months before we managed to swim out of the flood of mail.

I'm really lucky with the people around me. They know me, so they don't confuse the issues, really. They know what a book is and they know who I am and they know the difference between the two.

We have to listen to other people's stories. That's the thing. And that's the only way that we eventually get to know ourselves.

You can practice deep listening in order to relieve the suffering in us, and in the other person. That kind of listening is described as compassionate listening. You listen only for the purpose of relieving suffering in the other person.

Not only is love blind, it’s a little hard of hearing.

Listening is love in action.

A little less fight and a little more spark, close your mouth and open your heart.

Our communications reflect in our countenance. Therefore, we must be careful not only what we communicate, but also how we do so. Souls can be strengthened or shattered by the message and the manner in which we communicate.

When people are hurting, what they really need is someone who is fully there for them - not someone who is condescending or officious. The only way for you to be there for them is by facing your fear or anger, whatever feelings cause you to shut down.

Keep a cool head and a warm heart. A mantra that became a song, inspired by the wise words of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. If we all take the time to listen and love each other, this world would be a better place.

I look at Thich Nhat Hanh and I look at Marshall Rosenberg, and they're more concerned about the long range. And that long range means that you have to sit down with people who don't think like you. I want to reach people who don't think like me.

The principles of Nonviolent Communication taught by Dr. Rosenberg are instrumental in creating an extraordinary and fulfilling quality of life. His compassionate and inspiring message cuts right to the heart of successful communication.

The older I get, the more convinced I am that the space between people who are trying their best to understand each other is hallowed ground.

I am compassionate. I allow my heart and imagination to embrace the difficulties and concerns of others. While maintaining my own balance, I find it within myself to extend sympathy, attention, and support. When they are grieved, I listen with openness and gentle strength. I offer loyalty, friendship, and human understanding. Without undermining or enabling, I aid and assist others to find their strength. I allow the healing power of the Universe to flow through me, soothing the hearts and feelings of those I encounter.

I will always try to share my faith with any person who is willing to listen. When I feel a wall go up, we can talk about something else... and I will pray for you.