Can you recall the rural train crossings with the big X sign on which the words STOP, LOOK, LISTEN are written? You’re supposed to stop your vehicle before cross the tracks (which don’t have electric gates); roll down the window; look both ways, and listen for the sound of a train BEFORE crossing the tracks.
STOP, LOOK, LISTEN is solidly good advice for life, not just for train crossings. With the quick click of fingers on a phone or keyboard we can too easily move through the day reacting and acting impulsively and never for a moment stopping, looking or listening.
What do I mean by STOP, LOOK AND LISTEN?
1. STOP. Did your mother ever counsel you to count to ten before slugging your brother (or anyone else)? Develop the habit of pausing before acting, responding or reacting. Inhale calmly, look up briefly as if you’re thinking (but don’t be merely thinking) and let the pause be a window onto an appropriate and intuitive response rather than merely a reactive one.
2. LOOK. This is part of the “looking up” I referenced in #1 above. If you are doing something mechanical or physical, “look” may actually include observing the scene in front of you before you act but in the case of a verbal or written response, looking is part of the STOP process. When possible the LOOKING is literally looking up: either straight up, or to the side. This is what a person looks like when they are pondering something but instead of thinking you are awaiting for a response to come from your in-tune Self rather than your sub-conscious, reactive little self.
3. LISTEN. Listening is actually another way of explaining the “look up” process. Imagine that when you look up as part of your STOP pause, you are actually listening: not for a sound, but for an answer in the same way as I described in #2. above.
STOP, LOOK, LISTEN can also be extended to describe a sitting meditation. When we sit to meditate we are STOPPING all the external activities that we otherwise engage in when we are awake and active.
LOOKING UP is exactly what we do with eyes closed during meditation: behind closed eyes we look up, gazing through and out from the point between the eyebrows at a point about an arms length beyond the forehead.
LISTENING is precisely the attitude that best describes what it is to meditate. Generally a meditation consists of some stretching or relaxing of the body, finding the proper, spine-straight posture, and then engaging in some form of meditative concentration. This might use a mental mantra or affirmation; a breath control technique; a prayer; or moving life force energy in the body.
So the LISTENING part will follow whatever technique of concentration you employ to bring the heart and mind to a point of calm focus. Then spend some time, upwards a third or a quarter of your sitting time, in a calm, quiet and receptive state.
Listening can be literal insofar as listening to subtle, inner sounds or it can be a feeling attitude of receptivity to the higher Self, God, or some aspect of divine consciousness (like peace, joy, love etc.) or even simply to be receptive to inspiration or inner guidance.
Indeed before ending meditation is an excellent to time to invite inspiration or guidance in response to practical needs or questions after having rested in this receptive, listening pose.