When Did We Stop Listening?

When did we stop listening? Not to other people... We spend plenty of time doing that! We listen to podcasts while we drive, music while we walk, notifications that constantly call for our attention. We absorb opinions, headlines and endless streams of information. But somewhere along the way, many of us stopped listening to ourselves.

As children, we seemed to know how. We would crouch down to watch a ladybird making its determined journey along a leaf. We would lie on the grass finding dragons, rabbits and castles in the clouds. We would point excitedly at a bird we'd never seen before, collect feathers that felt like treasures, and fill our pockets with pebbles that somehow felt important. Nobody had to teach us to notice. Wonder was simply how we met the world.

Then life became busier. We grew up. There are jobs to do, places to be, responsibilities to carry and clocks that always seemed to be ticking. Efficiency became more important than curiosity. We walk through beautiful places while looking at our phones. We hurry past birdsong because we were thinking about tomorrow. We forget that there was another way of moving through the world.

The remarkable thing is that nature hasn't stopped speaking. The blackbird still greets the dawn with the same joyful song. The trees still whisper when the wind moves through their branches. Wildflowers still bloom without asking anyone to notice. Rivers continue to tell ancient stories as they make their way towards the sea. The conversation has never ended. We've simply become distracted.

Perhaps that's why so many of us feel as though something is missing. Not because we've lost ourselves, but because we've become disconnected from the quiet voice within us. The one that speaks in feelings rather than words. The one that softens when we stand beneath an ancient tree or watch sunlight dance across water. Nature has a beautiful way of helping us tune back in, and the more time I spend outside, the more I realise that listening isn't something we have to learn. It's something we need to remember. Isn't it time we returned to noticing the birds before our thoughts, watching the clouds instead of replaying conversations in our mind and becoming aware of what our body is telling us, what our heart has been whispering beneath the noise?

The answers rarely arrive as booming revelations however. More often, they come as a quiet sense of knowing. A feeling that it's time to rest. A nudge to take a different path. A deep breath that reminds you everything is exactly as it needs to be in this moment. Listening to yourself doesn't mean having all the answers. It simply means creating enough space to hear the wisdom that has been waiting patiently beneath the noise.

So this CHOOSEDAY, perhaps choose to listen. Leave your phone in your pocket for a while. Pause beside a tree. Watch the clouds drift by. Notice the bees moving from flower to flower. Listen to the birds without needing to know their names. And while you're there, listen for something else too...

The quiet voice within you that has never stopped speaking. It may have been waiting for this moment all along!