56: Active Listening

Human beings have the unique ability to think, feel, take action, and listen intentionally by using the prefrontal cortex part of our brain rather than do all of those things automatically or reactively. 

Being curious and aware of 'how' you listen to and then interpret what you hear can completely change how you see yourself and how you view and understand others. 

Without intentional listening, our past experiences and expectations will always be filtering and shaping the way we interpret what we hear in our self talk and what we hear from others. This can be a significant obstacle in weight loss, as our automatic, habitual thoughts and beliefs about food and our behaviors can prevent us from making meaningful changes. [00:15:17]

By actively listening and questioning our beliefs, we can gain a deeper understanding of the underlying issues driving our behaviors, such as overeating. [00:19:51]

Intentional listening means developing the habit of not believing everything our brain tells us. Considering alternative perspectives, separating facts from our automatic interpretations and then choosing the meaning we want to give to our experiences is a powerful tool for breaking free from unhelpful patterns and creating lasting change. [00:19:59]

If we want to work on active listening, it's important to balance those efforts with regular periods of mental rest like meditation daily or even serveral times a day.  [00:30:51]

Intentional listening is a great way to reclaim your life, your beliefs, and your perspective of yourself and others as your own. To be truly free requires listening actively, using discernment, and then choosing what to think in response in a way that that serves you and the person you want to be. [00:34:12]

Coach Homework assignment: 

1. Has there ever been a time in your life when you thought what you heard was a wrong interpretation and that had big consequences? 

2. Has there ever been a time in your life when someone misunderstood what you were trying to say and that had consequences? [00:34:46]

Deeply listening to other people without your own agenda or old beliefs filtering what you hear can give you a deeper. truer understanding of yourself and why you do what you do. Once you are aware of your behaviors, you have a shot at being able to change them. Active or intentional  listening can give you that, and it's something you can work at every day in little ways with your self-talk and how you communicate with the important people in your life.  [00:36:18]