The Joy of Listening
I’ve been called a good listener, a bad listener and everything in between. Does how we listen create how we see the world? Since getting a Honda Fit, I’ve loved watching to see how many Honda Fits are on the road. I listen for Honda Fits! A moment of curiosity led me to switch my listening focus to Volkswagen’s, and I discovered that about every 10th car or so going by was a Volkswagen.
In 2009, I was taking a year long program at the Rudolf Steiner College in Fair Oaks, California. Rudolf Steiner created Biodynamic® farming in 1924 in Germany. (Here’s a link to an article on Biodynamics if you want to do a quick catch up on that.)
The class met for one Saturday a month and ended with a week-long intensive. We traveled through the principles and practices of Biodynamic farming. One particular class dove into the practice of having animals on the farm. I imagined the reasons for animals on the farm based on my experiences. Those experiences set up how I was listening and what I was available to hear. This was about to change…
We were asked to put on a different pair of glasses for the day, and to be open to experiencing through this new, imaginary pair of glasses. We were asked to listen from a biodynamic perspective and as a new way to explore, experience and have a relationship with animals in farming. (Hang with me now, this is gonna get a little weird. I’m not asking you to believe it…Just be open.) Consider the idea that domesticated animals chose to become domesticated. What if, they knew humanity had lost its way, including a very important sense of connection with the land, nature, and the system as a whole, to such a degree, that if animals gave of themselves to that system’s wholeness, through agriculture, they could help bring humanity back into balance with nature and the whole. That was a brain-twister, and a completely different way to listen to the daylong conversation about animals on the farm.
I came away reminded that I get overly attached to certain ways of doing things. That there is no one right way, and through listening something magical often happens. Letting go and really listening to approaches that are foreign to my habits and patterns allows new opportunities to show up. I might discover something great and really surprise myself. As a bonus, I could end up making more conscious choices, beneficial to the whole of which we’re all a part.
A biodynamic farmer once explained to me that through observation and listening, he learned from the land. He slowly discovered the assets of that land. From that place, he got a sense of how much he could farm, of what, and in what ways, so that the overall eco-system was supported, and the resources required to support that farm could be dramatically minimized when compared to conventional means.
That inspired me to define ConsciousWine’s concept of sustainable farming, and led to the 2nd Principle of ConsciousWine – Sustainable Farming.
Using the example of a whole farm, how do you listen to a wine?
1. You can watch it unfold when exposed to air. Open a bottle, and have a glass for five straight days. Watch the wine change and notice what you notice. Our video, Wine & Time, takes you through an amazing example of how a wine changes over five days of being open, but it’s something you can do on your own too!
2. Try wine with food. First taste the wine on its own. Then go to your frig, grab the nearest food with zero refined sugar in it, pop it in your mouth, chew the food then try the wine again. Notice how the food changes your experience of the wine. Then try the same wine with another food and find your favorite! (The Wine & Food Experience Video shows you how foods and flavors can alter your experience of a wine.)
3. Watch The Pleasure in the Glass for the last example!
Peace,
Jeff
