Deep Listening

Jillian Pransky

Audiobook length: 11m 12s

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Part of the Stress Less Reading List

A healing practice to calm your body, clear your mind, and open your heart.

The Bottom Line

For your own well-being and peace of mind, rather than trying to “be your best self” and “do more,” try to “be here” and “listen more.”

I. Introduction

Jillian Pransky grew up believing that life was about marking off achievements from a checklist — at school and work, in sports and her personal life. She thought those kinds of successes would increase her sense of self-worth, so she worked hard, climbing up the ladder in her marketing career and proudly boasting about how busy she was. She was often but took it as a sign she was making the most of life.

But when her sister-in-law died at age 34, Pransky broke down. She experienced her first panic attack and started to suffer from anxiety. “Daily challenges that I used to conquer enthusiastically now made me shaky,” she writes in Deep Listening.

Suddenly she was forced to face fears she’d been papering over for too long: She feared she wasn’t good enough at her job, that she didn’t deserve love. She realized that her constant activity and striving were meant to prove that she was worthy of love, from herself and others.

As part of her healing journey, Pransky turned to yoga and meditation. Before she had approached them with a competitive mindset — but over time she understood they aren’t about physical power but about developing the mental strength to cope with life’s challenges. She wrote Deep Listening with this message in mind — to help other people pay close attention to what their bodies, minds and hearts are saying.