We have a 14 year old Tibetan Parakeet we adopted a couple of years ago. He came to us injured and couldnt go back to the home he had been living in. His wing was broken and after his wing healed he needed to regain muscle strength to fly again. We were going to find him a different home but instead we decided he could stay with us.
He has his cage and the gate remains unlocked and he enjoys coming out and going back in as he pleases. Although he is not learning any new words that we know of, he has a few phrases he uses with us.
One of them is “Can you hear me?”
He keeps asking the question as long as we are in the room and until we respond.
So he gets the response, “Yes Dewey, I can hear you” or some variation of that. He is usually satisfied with that and starts doing other things. We go through this interaction everyday. He prefers a certain tone of voice and his name in the response. Anything different and we are back to his question.
Listening to someone is a gift to them and if we truly hear them, it is also a gift to ourselves.
Deep listening builds connection and understanding
Listening and being heard can be transformative
Namaste,
Shobhna