LISTEN: A Recipe for Love and Beauty
This is a draft of one of the recipes for my book-in-progress: The Body’s Delights: Recipes for a Year of Love and Beauty. To read more about it, check out This Post. xoxo Becca
In translation:
LISTEN to your and others’ mind body heart hunches curiosities
The first duty of love is to listen. ~Paul Tillich
Be love. Get quiet put distractions away. Expose your heart. Make eye contact. Don’t interrupt, but show you are listening through facial expressions and empathic sounds. Ooohh… Mmmmhmmm…. Dang!
SUSPEND JUDGEMENT. Ask open-ended questions that help the speaker see their situation from a wider lens. What do you want? When have you felt like this before?
Be a mirror. Reflect what you’ve heard. So often that’s all anybody needs for clarity and peace of mind. So, what I’m hearing you say… It sounds like….
Offer support. Resist the urge to fix anything or give advice, unless asked. Instead, ask what they want for support… from you, from others, and from themself. What could you use for support?
DROP IN
Be love. Listen inward. Parachute into the wild sky of your mind. Be a gentle observer of the territory. Just floating, witnessing.
How do you talk to yourself? Be curious.
REFRAME
If you notice put-downs, stories on repeat, mean voices… reframe! Oh, love, you are not a loser! You are an imperfect human, beautiful and flawed. I love you. xo
LISTEN TO YOUR HEART
I long… I yearn… I love… I hope… (Btw, these are great writing prompts to help you hear your heart!)
Listen to your creative visions.
The world needs them. So do you.
Listen to your Body
What does it need? Rest? Figs and nuts? A good ass-shaking? Love it up.
LISTEN TO YOUR DREAMS
Listen to your hunches, intuitive hits, and gut reactions, even if they don’t make logical sense.