Part 1: Definition & Distinction

Hearing is a physiological process. 
It happens automatically when sound waves hit the ear and the brain interprets them.

Listening is a conscious act of presence.
It requires attention, receptivity, and relational engagement.

Hearing registers sound.
Listening receives information to translate.

Part 2: Why the Difference Matters 

Hearing can happen without connection.

You can hear someone’s words and still miss their truth.
You can hear music and not feel its invitation. 

Listening creates space for the Other. 


When you listen,  you don't just receive sound
you receive the one speaking (or singing or weeping or existing or)  

You become a translator of information
 not just a processor of input.

Listening builds coherence.

In trauma healing, nervous system attunement depends on deep listening,
not just to the words, but to the tone, breath, pacing, pauses.

In frequency work, how you listen, determine what you hear ie: tone, harmonic, truth behind distortion

Part 3: Real-World Relevance

  Someone may say  "I'm fine.  If you hear it, you nod.
If you listen, you feel the tremble beneath it. 

Listening is the difference between reacting and responding.
It’s how we meet each other, not just exchange words.

 Listening is what lets you hear your own soul again
not as noise or memory, but as presence.

Part 4: Why This Is risky

Many people are trained to respond to what they hear before they’ve even listened.

Some responses are default responses, advice giving and multitasking. 
Others are a result of nervous system state, led by filters, selective hearing etc., 
Unresolved trauma often results in hearing things from a defensive posture as listening requires safety. 

No matter the source, the impact of not listening and only hearing can cause unintentional harm, injury and
re-traumatize making the original wounds and survival patterns even stronger and deeper. 

Part 5: What Happens When Listening Returns

Then listening becomes the translator it was always meant to be.
It doesn’t just decode sound — it welcomes the soul.
Listening lets you hear silence, resonance, breath, the quality of presence. 
Listening builds bridges, creating repairs between people and within self, across time. 
Listening transforms hearing into useable information. 
Listening is where information  integrates into relationship.