Emma

Pauline Oliveros’s Reflection

For a while, I’ve known that I often listen with a goal in mind, to avoid silence. As soon as I wake up, something needs to occupy my brain so I don’t think about anything else but the noise. Pauline Oliveros’s idea of deep listening challenges me to give full attention to myself, to check in —not just with my ears but with my whole body —notice tone, emotion, and even silence.
A moment that stood out to me recently was when, one morning, my mind felt completely exhausted from the responsibilities and the constant noise of YouTube videos and music. I realized I needed a break. I knew that without the noise, my thoughts might drift toward all the stressful things in my life, but I decided to sit with that discomfort. On my way to school, I listened to the birds chirping, cars passing by, the wind moving through the trees, and the sound of my shoes crunching the leaves on the ground. The sounds felt grounding and, strangely, exactly what I needed. For once, in a really long time, I wasn’t trying to escape the world around me; I was a part of it, through body, mind and soul.
For me, this small definition of my daily routine showed me how deep listening can shift the way I connect with myself and the world. Instead of treating sound as something to fill silence, I began to notice how it shapes my awareness and emotions. Listening with my whole body, feeling the music all around me, I’ve started to see it not as a way to avoid my thoughts, but as a way to understand them.

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