Sensitivity - just listen

Sensitivity is the heightened state of awareness.

Awareness is the quality of our consciousness which enables us to observe without any distortion.

It’s our ability to perceive things as they are (truth) instead of as they ought to be (learnt expectations) or as we want them to be (desired expectations).

Learnt expectations are the results of centuries of conditioning of our mind through scriptures, philosophies, beliefs, traditions and so on.  They are essentially thoughts from the past which are stored as memories – both inherited and acquired.  Even desired expectations, in most situations, are also thoughts from the past projected into the future to overcome our fear of facing the unknown.

Sensitivity raises the level of our awareness which enhances our ability to respond, without the baggage of our thoughts, to bring about transformational impact.

Being sensitive at an individual level:

Let’s start by being sensitive to ourselves – the needs of our body, mind, heart and spirit.

By being sensitive to our body, we are aware of what to eat, when to eat, how to eat and how much to eat; similarly, we are aware of what, when, how, and how much to drink, work, play, rest, sleep, heal and so on.

By being sensitive to our mind, we are aware of what to learn and how to increase our ability to respond or contribute.

By being sensitive to our heart, we are aware of our thoughts, as emotions are nothing but movement of our thoughts.  By remaining neutral, i.e., neither welcoming nor condemning those thoughts, we free ourselves from their influence.

By being sensitive to our spirit, we are aware of what contributions to make to our stakeholders.

For ease of understanding, I have addressed each need separately but, in reality, these needs are all interdependent and we need to be sensitive to all of them in an integrated or holistic manner.

Now, let’s look at being sensitive to others – their holistic needs of body, mind, heart and spirit.

To do this, we need to be aware of them or listen to them – not just with our ears but with our whole body, mind, heart and spirit.

To be sensitive to others requires us to be sensitive to ourselves first as otherwise there is bound to be distortions in our awareness.

Similarly, we can be sensitive to the world at large – people, animals, birds and other living organisms, resources, environment and nature itself.

Being sensitive at an organizational level:

Identify key stakeholders and institute processes to listen to them on a consistent basis to understand their evolving needs and aspirations.

The depth of our understanding enables us to conceptualize, design and develop policies, products, services, systems and processes to fulfill them effectively.

Review policies, products, services, systems and processes on a consistent basis to finetune, overhaul or completely redesign them to continue to fulfill the evolving needs and aspirations of our stakeholders.

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