Your Life Symphony — 4th Movement

On the fourth day of my lecture series at Eliot Institute, "Your Life Symphony," I addressed the theme "Open-Heart Listening: The Power of Presence."  Here were the day's offerings of music and readings …

Open-Heart Listening: The Power of Presence

"The Sound of Silence" by Simon and Garfunkel

Reading:
"Between Good News and Need" by Fred Rogers

"Tonight You Belong To Me" — Benjamin J. Ames and His 4 Year Old

"Misunderstood" — A Holiday Season Parable

"Life is full of oracles, sources of delight and instruction which can lift it with a fine inspiration.  But in order to profit by the oracles we must listen to them, and not to the noise of the streets." — Julia Ward Howe (1819-1910)

“We listen too much to the telephone and we listen too little to nature. The wind is one of my sounds. A lonely sound, perhaps, but soothing. Everybody should have his personal sounds to listen for — sounds that will make him exhilarated and alive, or quiet and calm. ... As a matter of fact, one of the greatest sounds of them all — and to me it is a sound — is utter, complete silence.” — Andre Kostelanetz (1901-1980), Conductor

“Rest is not idleness, and to lie sometimes on the grass under the trees, listening to the murmur of the water, or watching the clouds float across the blue sky, is by no means a waste of time.” — Lord Avebury (1834-1913)

"The Wind" by Yusuf Islam (a.k.a. Cat Stevens)

"Listening is a magnetic and strange thing, a creative force. The friends who listen to us are the ones we move toward. When we are listened to, it creates us, makes us unfold and expand." — Karl Menninger (1893-1990)

 “Love and trust, in the space between what’s said and what’s heard in our life, can make all the difference in this world.” — Fred Rogers (1928-2003)

Reading:
"Take Time To Listen" by Robert Terry Weston

"The Rainbow Connection" — Muppets