Listening With My Heart Helps Me Hear The Blessings in My Life

Not long ago, my young, yet wise sister-blogger Alice wrote about people she knows who have triumphed over physical or mental disabilities. As someone who has been hearing-impaired since childhood, I myself have had the opportunity to overcome this challenging limitation and eventually embrace it as one of my life's greatest blessings.

Looking back, I see how much my life today was influenced by my hearing loss. If I had been able to communicate as easily as most kids, I may never have spent hours upon hours reading books, which led me to become a writer. My daily meditation practice is actually enhanced by being able to turn off or remove my hearing aids for complete silence, allowing me to tune inward more effectively.

I am fortunate that my hereditary condition started out mild when I was young and progressed to a more severe hearing loss as I grew older, so my speech developed normally. I am grateful that I still have enough hearing to be amplified by powerful devices in both ears. I thank God that I can carry on normal conversations face-to-face in a quiet environment...and anything more is icing on the cake.

While having coffee with a friend on New Year's Day, I noticed a man about my age reading a book at the next table, wearing behind-the-ear hearing aids like mine (a pleasant surprise, considering that those I usually see with hearing aids are senior citizens). After we struck up a conversation, he voiced the most valuable benefit of all from our shared affliction.

"People have told me that I am one of the best listeners they have ever known," he said. I find that to be true for me as well...and that is the paradox. This physical challenge that makes communication so difficult can be used to develop intense listening habits, thus enriching communication with others in the process.

Over the years, I have learned how to concentrate on the person in front of me, to watch their mouth carefully, to make eye contact, to ask questions if I miss something. But beyond that, I go to that place inside where my heart resides — then I connect to their heart at the same time. It's no accident that HEART begins with HEAR.

And when I listen from my heart, all things become simple, clear and beautiful.

~ Teri Breier  www.quintessencecreative.com 
Click here for more of Teri's posts.

Comments

[Dawn]

Teri,

You are as beautiful inside as you are out. Thank you for sharing such a personal part of your life and for inspiring all of us to listen a bit better.

Gratefully,
Dawn

[Kim Selbert]

Teri: I enjoyed your piece about being hearing impaired. I had no idea that you had this disability. You write beautifully and I'll keep reading the posts on your blog. I continue to teach Laughter Yoga and to do occupational therapy with seniors. I am writing a book about Laughter Yoga from a personal perspective. I'll keep you posted. Kim

[Teri Breier]

Wow, Lisa, what a GREAT story! Bless you for taking the time to write about your uplifting in-laws. Your husband must have had quite an upbringing, as a hearing child of deaf parents. Blessings to all of you. :) ~ Teri

[Lisa Claudia Briggs, LICSW]

Hi Teri! I loved this article on every level. I married my husband Andy just a few years ago. Both of his parents were born with complete loss of hearing, both went to special schools to learn to sign and read lips and to speak.

When Andy and I were engaged,I first met his parents, on a visit to their home in Florida. I was amazed at how well we were able to talk and communicate. they had a party for us to meet all of their friends,who were also hearing-disabled.

I remember being so moved by the level of connection that resulted from such eye contact, and such attention. The contrast to daily conversations was remarkable.

At our wedding, a friend of the family signed during our ceremony- which was pretty nontraditional. There was something about this added level of interpretation that added something so beautiful to the mix.

Anyways- loved the photo of you, you look angelic and serene and beautiful.

xox and blessings
Lisa
Lisa@IntuitiveBody.com

[Jan E]

What a great sharing from you Teri!!! You are an awesome spiritual warrior!
xoxoxo
Jan

[Teri Breier]

Thank you, friends, I am deeply touched by your comments. Having people like you in my life is one of my greatest blessings...as is having a appreciative, supportive partner like Scott.

Kevin's article is so very uplifting and I encourage anyone who sees this to read it...you may have to cut and paste the link, but it's worth the effort.

In gratitude,
Teri

[Vivien Young]

Thank you so much for sharing, Teri. My grandfather was deaf from the age of 5. He lip-read and spoke mostly understandably - certainly within the family. He was the sweetest guy and I loved him deeply. He had his little tricks though. My grandmother talked - a lot - and all he had to do to tune her out was turn his back, so he couldn't see what she was saying!

And thank you for training Scott!

[Kevin Masterson]

Teri, Thank you so much for sharing so deeply & so imtimately with everyone. I never told you before but our housekeeper,Anna, when I grew up was deaf. She was one of the real blessings of my childhood. Here's a link to the column I wrote about her recently.

http://www.examiner.com/x-1135-LA-Religion--Spirituality-Examiner~y2008m11d10-Listening-from-the-heart

[constance Leete]

i'm glad i took the time to read it. thanks teri. LL, c

[Scott]

Thank you for sharing. Something we all hear from early on is that communication is the key to relationships. I've never been in a relationship before this one with Teri that even compares to the communication level we have. When we first got together I was concerned about how I would deal with spending time with someone who could not hear me very well. I learned two things: that someone who was hearing impaired could communicate with me better than anyone had before, and I learned that what we call handicaps do not necessarily diminish what we can experience here. One more thing I learned - how to communicate better myself. What a blessing.