That was the beginning of my talking stick journey. And then along the way, something happened. The Glass Talking stick has become fully a “listening stick” as well such that when I am holding it and someone is talking to me, I listen to and hear what they are saying between and under their words that cries out to me to be heard.
Not too long after I saw John, I saw a type A, alpha+, driven, high energy man named Alex. We started into his session and told him that I was going to be holding this stick as a tool that helps me listen better. He looked at me puzzled, but then flippantly said, “If it works for you, Mark.”
As he began to speak, I held on to my listening stick to listen to what I was hearing.
I listened to Alex vent nonstop for 15 minutes about all the things he had to do and deadlines facing him and on and on.
Finally, I interjected firmly, “Shh! Listen!”
He was startled, “Listen to what?”
“Listen to the quiet,” I replied.
“The what?” he responded.
“To the quiet,” I continued. “It’s located between the noise in your head and the noise in your life, and right now it’s screaming out to me and you to be heard.”
“Huh?” he said, still confused.
“Close your eyes,” I instructed, “and breathe slowly through your nose and in a little while you’ll begin to hear it.”
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