Tag Archives: Thich Nhat Hanh

Thich Nhat Hanh on ‘Listening’

“We have to understand in order to be of help.  We all have pain, but we tend to suppress it, because we don’t want it to come up to our living room.  the most important thing is that we need to be understood.  We need someone to be able to listen to us and to understand us.  then we will suffer less.  but everyone is suffering, and no one wants to listen.  We don’t know how to express ourselves so that people can understand.  because we suffer so much, the way we express our pain hurts other people, and they don’t want to listen.”

Listening is a very deep practice….You have to empty yourself.  You have to leave space in order to listen….especially to people we think are our enemies – the ones we believe are making our situation worse.  When you have shown your capacity for listening and understanding, the other person will begin to listen to you, and you have a change to tell him or her of your pain, and it’s your turn to be healed.  This is the practice of peace.”