Theory: Listening to Broaden and Build

Fredrickson’s Broad and Build Theory of Positivity^[1] provides theoretical insights for developing theory relevant to listening to the SONG of life. Fredrickson’s theory is about positive emotions. Her research demonstrates that:

. . . broadening and building . . . [ideas facilitate:] opening our awareness to a broader range of thoughts and actions . . . open[s] our hearts and minds, making us more receptive and more creative, expands our sense of self, and connects us to something larger than ourselves.^[2]

Fredrickson’s idea of “broadening and building” can be applied to listening to the SONG of life. Specifically, each SONG context broadens and builds our repertoire of listening practices. Many of these listening practices foster the positive emotions in Fredrickson’s research, especially those of interest, inspiration, awe, gratitude, love, and serenity.

Anecdotally, my personal experience and stories from my students during the past decade of teaching the listening course verify that listening to the SONG of life yields many positive emotions for students and for myself as the instructor. These emotions that result from engaging in the SONG of life listening practices are rich, satisfying, enjoyable, and sometimes numinous.

Practice: Exploring Experiential Learning Activities

Throughout this book, I suggest many types of experiential learning activities that individuals can engage in to enhance their capacities to listen to the SONG of life. When practiced with intention and regularity, most of these activities can become a way of “being in the world.”^[3]

One way to facilitate a listening way of “being in the world” is to engage in a series of experiential learning activities related to the SONG of life. Any experiential learning activities from this book can be more fully integrated into a way of being through a “practice reflection.”^[4] Instructors and students of listening courses, or individuals on their own, can create such a “practice reflection” to solidify their experiential learning. Below are the four parts of a “practice reflection” that I borrow from Jeff Warren’s “practice report”:^[5]

• What practice do you do (include the name of the practice)?
• What is the experience of doing this?
• Any noticeable short-term and long-term effects?
• What has your practice taught you, if anything?

Creative Application: Listening to the SONG of Life as Music

Jeff Warren’s thirty-day meditation program on the Calm app^[6] provides many entry points for listening to the SONG of life. The mindfulness that Warren teaches applies to cultivating the attention needed for listening to each of the SONG of life contexts. I have listened to and practiced the thirty-day meditation program on the Calm app several times over the last few years. The most recent time, I completed the meditation program with my son each evening for one month. We were so inspired by the experience that we made an album of songs related to these meditations as a gift for Jeff Warren. The song lyrics and music are available to anyone who wants to learn more about mindfulness meditation.^[7]