How to Fight (Mindfulness Essentials #6)

by Thich Nhat Hanh

COMPASSIONATE LISTENING When you practice compassionate listening, it’s important to remember that you listen with only one aim, and that is to help the other person to suffer less. You give the other person a chance to say what is in their heart. Even if the other person says something harsh, provocative, or incorrect, or something full of blaming, judgement, or wrong perceptions, you still continue to listen with the heart of compassion. If you can maintain the energy of mindfulness and compassion in your heart while listening, you will be protected, and no matter what the other person says, it won’t touch off the energy of irritation and anger in you. In that way, you can listen for an hour or more, and the quality of your listening will help the other person to suffer less. When people listen to each other like that, they truly recognize the humanity and the suffering of the other person. You see the other person is a human being, someone very much like yourself. You no longer look at that person with suspicion, anger, or fear.