We were surprised and pleased to see a focus on ‘Listening’ when we looked into July commemorative days! July 18th is World Listening Day! We get to think about what it means for one person to listen to another!
First let’s look into what the organizers of this commemoration had in mind when establishing it. From Twinkl [LINK] we find the following:
“World Listening Day is a celebration of the power of listening, both to people and to our surroundings. The day also celebrates Acoustic Ecology which is the study of how human beings relate to the world through sound. Listening is an essential part of communication and something that we do not do often enough. World Listening Day proclaims that it is time to listen intently to the people in our lives and the worthy causes that are seeking attention. This requires engaging with listening as an active process, one that encourages listening with as much effort as speaking.”
That’s something worth noting – time to listen to the people in our lives, and that includes all people… family and ‘work family’ – our co-workers. Time to listen without thinking about a response – just listening and hearing. The article goes on to explain.
“World Listening Day began in 2010 as a celebration of listening and as an encouragement to listen actively and eagerly. The day has been celebrated every year since and shows no signs of slowing down. The date was selected because this is the birthday of R. Murray Schafer. He was a Canadian composer and a founding member of the movement of Acoustic Ecology. In addition to its academic goals, this field of study also seeks to end rampant noise pollution and bring about harmony between humans and the environment. World Listening Day draws attention to these causes and calls us to do what we can to reduce our noise pollution.”
Human Communication
Noise pollution – that certainly is a reality in our lives. And there are tons of voices asking for our attention – the phone, the email, the news, the social media… we are inundated with marketing and demands for our attention. Listen to me… no listen to me… no listen to me. Who or what should we be listening to? Let’s return to the article:
“Celebrating World Listening Day 2024 can be done in plenty of different ways but they all revolve around active listening. This requires us to be engaged when hearing others and putting in effort to really understand what they are saying.”
We can give that statement a big thumb’s up. We should be listening to ‘others’. That means other human beings, not our phones or social media. Whether it is a child, an elder, a family member or a co-worker – listening is one of the most human and humane things we can do.
Listening in the Workplace
At AMS, our “Mental Health in the Workplace” class started this week and that seems appropriate to mention. It is vital to think, and to speak, but how much more vital it is to listen to each other. We’re all human beings and we all have challenges in our lives.
In the workplace we may listen to instructions on how to do something, or maybe we listen to new ideas on accomplishing the job. Or it could be a “see something – say something” safety situation where we ask our supervisor to listen! Hopefully we don’t have to listen to too much noise pollution. Obviously there is a lot involved in listening in the workplace.
But, we all know the most human and humane listening is when we’re listening to ‘what’s going on’ with the other person and hearing and responding to the message with love and respect.
Let’s enjoy world listening day and see what messages we hear!!
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AMS Fulfillment is a Certified B Corporation, dedicated to People and Planet before Profit. We work to B the Change we wish to see in the world.
