Blog #4

I have volunteered at Cafe on the Vine for a few weeks now. I have adjusted to the rhythm of the hectic atmosphere and the swarm of guests that flood the kitchen during lunch hour. Amidst all the noise and voices, it is very important to listen. I can hear so much noise that it is sometimes hard to listen closely. Some of the guests are very friendly and they like to tell me a little story or a joke. This is an example of when I have to use my mindful listening to give them my attention and a thoughtful response. There is one guy that likes to joke and converse with everyone and all the workers know him by name. At first I just kind of brushed his stories off and pretended to listen to what he was saying, but my focus was on my job and serving the food. Now that I am more adjusted to the work and have warmed up to the other volunteer and guests, I think I am getting better at listening. I am finding that this is a huge benefit to my service learning experience.

The other day while I was in the kitchen, that friendly man who I frequently see in Cafe on the Vine showed up as usual. This time when he began telling me about his day, I listened carefully. He told me about how he saw his daughter earlier that day. It sort of shocked me how personal the story was and made me wonder if he had always been telling me things like that. As I listened I could tell how happy that made him and so I smiled back genuinely and told him that is great because I miss my family too being at college. I was a short exchange, but by listening to people I learn so much and build stronger relationships in the process. Experiences like these remind me how important it is to step back from my busy life style and pay attention to the little things.

In the future, I hope that learning to listen to the people at Cafe on the Vine will help remind me to stop and take a breath once in a while and listen. Between school, homework, my job, friends, etc., I feel so busy all the time and forget to listen now and then. Then relationships I have formed mindfully listening at Cafe on the Vine have become stronger and that is definitely a result of listening better. I want to use that and apply it to my other relationships and hopefully make those stronger too. For example, I will call home more often to ask how my family is doing. If I notice my friend looks a little down, I'll listen if they want to talk about it. These are ways I can apply my listening skills to strengthen the relationships in my life.