Listening is Golden. Master the art of silence to be the best listener says Susan McKenzie

A World of Meaning
Idioms are phrases with special meanings. Straightforward idioms are usually ones all speakers of English can understand. Clichés are said to be overused phrases – but some so-called clichés are so apt (suitable) that they convey a world of meaning to us and more importantly enlighten and illuminate our thinking.

Listening and Silence
Did you know that the same numbers of letters make up the word silent. The same letters can be rearranged and mean silent or listen. In fact when you think about it – to listen effectively you have to be silent to be able to really listen to what someone is saying.

Feel the Silence
The art of listening is to listen like you've never listened before – treat listening as if you are hearing something for the first time. This way you will be fresher in your listening. Feel the silence when you listen. When you are silent, you will hear at a deeper level of listening – we can call it a new level of listening.

Listen with Silence
Notice that the word Silence and the word License also have the same number of letters as well. Silence gives you the license to listen and be silent at the same time.

Space of Silence
The gap between your thoughts is the space of silence. Treasure this space. Treat it as the punctuation of thinking – the time for a comma, full stop (period), question mark or exclamation mark!

Listen to your Heart
In the silence you have greater access to your feelings. When you listen to your heart you have greater awareness of your feelings and how you feel about a particular issue. Your feelings are there for a reason so you need to listen to them. Listening to the heart is listening to our feelings and not hard logic. There is a message in our heart if we are silent enough to listen to it.

Listen up
Listen up means to pay greater attention to what is going on. We need to listen up to be able to effectively listen to whatever we should be listening to. There are times when if we don’t listen up we will miss what is going on. “Listen up now! This is important.”

Listen in
Sometimes we want to listen in on something. That means we want to listen but may need permission to do so. “Can we listen in when the band rehearses today?”

A Word to the Wise
If you are wise then you will listen to what is going to be said next.

Bending Your Ear
If I have to bend your ear then I have to force you to listen to me. I would hope that you would hang on to my every word (listening to me closely).

Lend me your ears (listen to me)
Show willingness by saying “I’m all Ears.” Not only am I listening but I really want to listen. I am eager and what you are saying won’t fall on deaf ears.

Take Heed (listen carefully and be warned) - It Pays to Listen
Silence is golden when making an effort to listen. Listening is one of the best ways to learn if you listen with the aim of understanding what is being said. Listening builds rapport and respect when you listen with interest.

All Ears
Listen not only with your ears, but also with your experience, your knowledge, your compassion, your intuition and your real intention to understand. Listen well and create a powerful connection with the person you are listening to.

Golden Listening Blessings
B: Being able to effectively listen is essential to being a successful communicator.
L: Listening plays a role in every endeavour: for learning, understanding, working, creating, presenting, and developing satisfied customers, clients and partners.
E: Effective listening enables you to obtain valuable information and to understand the hidden meanings in the words of others.
S: Silence and listening go hand in hand. Silence is needed to concentrate on the message and the true meaning of the communication.
S: Silence is a state that should be felt when listening. Silence permits you to hear at a deeper level of listening, understanding and putting the dots together.
I: Increase your learning, comprehension, understanding and productivity by a conscious effort to listen.
N: Nourish your mind with thoughts that you can really improve your listening and reap all the benefits that this post says you can achieve with effective listening.
G: Gaps between your thoughts are times to reflect in the state of silence. Gaps of silence are an important aspect of coming back stronger in the art of communication. Gaps of silence enable you to review the beat of your heart, mind and soul.
S: Skillful listening enables you to learn more from people than they intend to tell you. Silence gives you the licence to listen and be silent at the same time.