I was in Vermont for a few days.  Every morning I got up at dawn to walk down through the woods to the edge of a frozen lake.  There I would wait for the sun to come up and touch the edge of the woods with light.  It was very beautiful.  Robert Frost wrote a very famous poem Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening.  I thought of this poem especially because Frost wrote it in Vermont not far from where I stood.  I thought about how much I like to read the poem and how much I do not like listening to Frost read the poem.  I don’t like hearing anybody read poems.  I like to read them silently.  The silence helps me hear the poem better.
      Walking in the woods helps me hear other people better.  When I go for walks, I usually go alone.  I enjoy being alone and in a quiet place.  I bring some of that stillness back with me, and it helps me be a better listener.  When I listen to another person I don’t have to concentrate to understand them, I just have to be still and listen. Silence in myself helps me hear other people better.
        When I am alone  I am not alone.  Instead of paying attention to myself, I become aware of the wind and the light and the silence and the sounds that are everywhere.  The more alone I am the more I become a part of the wind and the light and the silence and the sounds.
          What helps you to be a better listener?