Becoming a Trustworthy Listener

Summary

Andrew Forsthoefel created for himself a coming of age ritual. After graduating from college, he took a year to walk 4,000 miles across America. Along the way he experienced the hospitality of strangers and encountered countless remarkable stories. After several months on the road Andrew began to realize that people are generally kind-hearted. He explains, “I began to realize that people were basically kind and generous and the way people were responding to me had a lot to do with the way I was seeing them. I was seeing them as worthy of my time. I was seeing them as worthy of my respect and even reverence, and seeing them as teachers.”

As he traveled he learned that if he could become a “trustworthy listener” people will share their unique “song” with him. He says, “My job is to become trustworthy, expectationless, agendaless, nonjudgmental. To become a safe environment so that of your own volition you would choose to offer me something. You would gift me or honor me with something. I’m not going to steal it from you. That’s this work. That’s this practice of becoming a trustworthy listener.” Listen and be inspired by this authentic voice as you hear the many remarkable stories of his encounters on the road. (hosted by Justine Willis Toms)