The Power of Listening
I was listening to this podcast the other day and it was such a great reminder of the power of listening.
People will often ask about assessment tools in practice; biofeedback? Live blood cell analysis? Lab work? Functional testing?
My response is underwhelming…
I’m actually quite boring. I really like to listen and then fill in the gaps with appropriate testing where needed.
I KNOW it’s not sexy. But let me tell you - listening is an extremely important skillset and, in medicine, it can tell you everything that you need to know.
A naturopathic elder once said “The patient will tell you exactly what is wrong if you just listen.” This is absolutely correct. Patient’s know their bodies best and they can tell you exactly what you need to know.
Three beautiful things in this podcast that translate right over into medicine:
Generally, we only listen with ~25% efficiency; in other words - we don’t actually hear or process 75% of what is being communicated. Now, imaging trying to listen with 100% efficiency. It takes time and practice to build this skillset. And without it, 75% of your health history rich with information on what is wrong and how to improve your health is unaccounted for.
It is proven that when we feel heard, our threat response deceases [hiiii parasympathetic.]
The Himba tribe of Namibia defines someone’s date of birth as the date that their mother sat in silence and heard their individual song come to her ears; this song is then repeated to the father and the midwives and the whole community. And it is sang to them again and again all through life including at their death. Just as we are all born from our own individual song, we all carry an individual story. No health history is the same.
I continue to hone in on this boring yet potent skillset in medicine. It’s a deep privledge to be able to hear your story.
Also never to worry if you don’t know what to say or where to start, I can ask you questions until the cows come home.
