I was teaching X-Ray Listening to a group of consultants the other day. It’s always a fantastic experience: I love the look on people’s faces as they have various realisations, and discover exciting new things about themselves and their colleagues.

There’s a great energy as people play and practice. At first, listening may be a struggle for them. The atmosphere is edgy and nervous, with complaints that the room is too crowded, and that it’s difficult to hear your partner over other voices.

But by the end of the day, the magic takes over. It’s as if each listener-listenee pair is in its own, invisible bubble, engaged and entranced.

The listener is gripped by their curiosity as they explore their partner’s unconscious mind. The person being listened to becomes fascinated by their own thoughts as they emerge, twinkling, into the light.

It’s ‘rapport’, but not as most people know it. There’s a real intimacy, a meeting of minds. It’s a special, almost sacred state.

What if everyone knew how to listen like this?  What if we could really connect easily with family, friends, colleagues and customers?  Really understand what people were thinking and feeling?

That’s what X-Ray Listening does. It’s a set of deceptively simple techniques to achieve this state.

And the point is not the techniques. The point is in the mindset: when you put your full attention on another person’s thoughts, both you and they can discover a new world full of treasures.

Once inside, it’s as if an abundance of gold and gems are scattered everywhere: it’s a simple matter for either of you to pick them up, examine them, take them, use them.

So I suppose learning X-Ray Listening is like growing your own goldmine. What will you do with yours?