10 Habits of Spacious Listeners

(I CARE FOR US)

“As we embrace our limitations and open ourselves to others that are different than ourselves, we learn. And, in that learning, we listen. And, in that listening, we can communicate our values through habits that shape the world as it ought to be.”

Elizabeth S. Parks, in The Ethics of Listening: Creating Space for Sustainable Dialogue, 2019.

I - Invest in relationship. Invest in life-giving relationships by participating in dialogic reciprocity within your relational networks.

C - Care for the dialogue. Care for the Discourse as it both constitutes who you are and you constitute what it becomes through your listening.

A - (Be) Authentic. Practice authenticity by performing sameness of character that leads to change for better.

R - Remember the ongoing story. Remember and re-call into being the parts of shared and conflicting narratives that can co-create healthy discourse.

E - Engage in critical thinking. Critically engage others to solve problems about what hinders the realization of more flourishing intra- and inter-personal worlds.

F - Focus on what matters. Focus on the aspects of the individuals and their cultural narratives and physical environments that matter most.

O - (Be) Open. Actively open yourself to a continuous practice of learning.

R - Respond to the need. Be responsive to the dialogic interactions in timely and articulate ways that reflect the embodied needs of individuals, relationships, and communities.

U - (Cultivate) Understanding. Cultivate understanding about yourself, your dialogic partners, and the narratives you create.

S - Stay intentionally present. Be intentionally present to both the dialogic moment and eternal discourse, recognizing that both impact the other.