Collection of Questions and Seven Ways of Listening – a research extract

Alicia Riofrío, Bernadett Vincze, Freya Flock, Helene Oltmann, Maya Aronson, Valentýna Jonáová, Viktor Tamas

Dear Reader, we invite you to explore the realm of listening and to join our voyage throughout these pages with a focus on your breathing, your emotions and the sounds you are situated in as you read these words.

Which soundscapes surround you? Which emotions do they evoke in you?

 

What kind of possibilities can we potentially unravel when actively challenging our habitual listening practices?

 

What is listening?

 

What can listening do?

 

How can and does listening become transformational?

 

Are you present at this moment? Do you feel attuned to what you have been reading? Do you feel engaged?

 

When tuning in with your listening organs, what sounds can you hear?

 

Have you, dear Reader, ever experienced hearing a certain song or sound of any kind that had the power to catapult you back to a different time and place and made you relive the memory of an experience of the past?

 

What sounds catapult you back in time and make you remember, dear Reader? Is there one you can think of right now? What does it cause you to feel?

 

Do you believe that your memories, the ones already experienced and those still waiting for you sometime in the future, will always stay the same after you experienced them?

 

What is the role of the Listener?

 

Have you ever found yourself doubting your ability fully to listen to a dear friend? Or thinking the person listening to you is not listening well, intently, or intentionally enough? 

 

How do you want to listen to others? How do you want to be listened to by others?

 

How does listening to just one thing feel different from listening to many? How does it feel different to be listened to as the only thing, or as one of many things someone is listening to?

 

Do you, dear Reader, feel attuned with yourself and with your environment right now?

 

We would like to invite you, dear Reader, to spend a few moments, removing yourself from this paper, to sit with yourself, closing your eyes, asking yourself the question: Are you present?

 

We would like to invite you, dear Reader, to contemplate the following questions and note down 3 key words that come to mind. What does listening spark within you, dear Reader? 

Do you feel lighter, calmer, and ready to read on? Do you feel annoyed, confused, disrupted or contracted?

 

What can you hear around you right now, dear Reader? What or whom are you a Listener of?

 

We now invite you, dear Reader, to take a moment, followed by a deep breath, and reflect on which choices you make as a Listener. Do you immerse yourself in the experience of listening or is it rather an unconscious process that is out of your control? Do you tend to make meaning while listening or rather afterwards?

 

Reflecting on the above mentioned, dear Reader, what kind of listening experiences would you seek to be part of? What kind of expectations would you have? Would you be annoyed if those expectations were not met? Would you try to keep an open mind and accept the sounds you did not think would be part of your experience? Moreover, what about scenarios where you feel you do not have the agency over your listening experience?

 

Dear Reader, do you sometimes feel that you have no time to slow down, to listen and tune in? Do you experience sounds and noises more intensely when taking the time to nurture yourself seems like a luxury you cannot afford, causing you to feel uneasy or falling ill?

 

Which sound enters your mind, dear Reader, when you think of one that moved into you and transformed you? A sound that invites you to think or feel in new ways? One that left its mark on you… Was it the words of a loved one or words that evoked contraction within you? 

 

We invite you to think of and imagine a sound that changed you in one way or another. What does it sound like? Why does it carry the power to transform something within you? How can listening, something we do every day, something we barely think about, be transformational?

 

Is transformation a long-term process, or could it also happen in an instant?

 

How do you feel, dear Reader? Do you feel listened to? Do you tend to take the role of Listener more often than the one of the speaker? Or do you find yourself speaking rather than listening? Perhaps you take on both roles equally. Do you give an equivalent amount of value both to speaking and listening?

 

Is the ultimate goal of listening to understand? Or can the pursuit of understanding possibly cause more harm than good

 

Do you ever let yourself remain in the unknown and simply listen, dear Reader?

 

What kind of transformation can we unravel when actively challenging our habitual listening practices?

Sonic Souvenirs

 

senses allow us to access memories in ways thinking cannot

the past is the base of the present and future

voices fade, the feelings evoked remain

where do memories live?

longing for past times

altering histories

vivid and true

back in time

weaving

access

reminiscing

memories fading

surrender to reality

can we forget completely? 

retrospectively altering the past

wishing to relive a moment one more time

do we carry memories? or are we able to release them?

Towards Attuned Beings

 

sounds as a bridge between the self and the other

kinship & togetherness

experiencing the other

no words needed

reciprocity

openness

curiosity

connect

complicated

active listening

meaning of being

to understand and be understood

does our body relate even before our mind understands?

Echoes from Within

 

observe and listen rather than analyse and categorise

different fractions of ourselves

am I able to express myself?

best friend or worst enemy

allow ourselves to listen

is there one true self?

silence the clutter

turning inwards

inner dialogue

companion

balance

intuition

am I in control?

setting boundaries

relying on our own wisdom

getting to know ourselves and our desires

recognising, understanding, observing and rearranging

The Listening Body

 

sound moving through the body, moving it, altering it, expressing it

following and leading the motion and emotion

limited way of understanding

left a mark in the body

following the body

deep listening

movement

response

heavy

sensing

tensions

attention

checking in

within and without

the power lies within us

tuning into our whole being

our body listens before we do

Listening Landscapes

 

predictability of certain sounds

enveloped by soundscapes

anxiety inducing

tranquillity

chaos

surrender

a sea of sounds

we never listen alone

coexistence of sounds

To Listen or Not to Listen

 

unconscious and conscious choice

have you chosen to listen to us?

distraction vs attentiveness

the power of choice

avoiding choices

empowerment

prioritizing

decisions

agency

ignore

tune out

autonomy

centre ourselves

placing attention

inescapable sounds

escaping chaos through choices

what happens when you don’t get to choose?

Transformative Ears

 

how can an unconscious process be transformational?

we are different after listening

hidden in the little shifts

invitation to think

forceful change

imagination

unknown

suffering

friction

new ways

future reality

leave their mark

subconsciousness

intentionality in listening

can transformation happen in an instant?

This material, the questions and ways of listening, have been extracted from a larger research project at Roskilde University with no further regard for their original contexts and chapters. In doing so we hope that you, dear Reader, will welcome and interpret the material into a new context. In what ways does what a question asks change, when its origin is excluded?