Phillip Rand's interview with Linda

Jerry Baden

(former Landmark Forum Leader)

I have known Linda Zraik personally and professionally for the last 40 years. Linda is an outstanding coach in her profound ability to fully get into and powerfully deal with any issue you might be struggling with. Her coaching is profound, insightful, safe and most important effective. I have witnessed her abilities to transform thousands of people’s lives for over 40 years with grace and authenticity. I totally recommend Linda in her coaching of hearing loss as she herself has transformed this issue in her own life!

In 2014, Linda experienced severe hearing loss and had to retire from her life’s work and passion.

From 2016 to early 2018, she stunned all of her friends with the announcement that she was going to travel to Paris, Italy and Mexico SOLO.

And off she went and stayed in some places for one to six months at a time and she loved it!!

Her courage to travel and live in foreign-speaking countries, and not let her hearing loss get in the way of her life — exemplifies the way she deals with hearing loss.

She has taken what she has learned and turned it into wisdom, smart strategies and powerful coaching for others so that their hearing loss does not need to diminish any aspect of their life, living or their relationships.

Finally, in 2019 when she returned to the US to live full time again, she decided to get a Cochlear Implant and now hears and functions at an incredible level of effectiveness.

In addition, one of the results you will get from Linda, is being educated in how to have your friends and family, and even strangers, support you in hearing better. The result of that is you will experience being included and engaged, there will not be as many times that you have ask “please say that again” — and what’s great about that is that your friends and family experience making a contribution, which empowers everyone.

Everything she will support you with, she has experienced herself, and has used the same practices in her life, so she knows they work.

She shared with me that for awhile she just “pretended” she was following group conversations — and she would shake her head at the right points, laugh at the right points and take cues off of what others were doing. And it didn’t work well for real communication.

Sound familiar? That was when she began to educate us (her friend community and her family) on what we could do to participate in her hearing better and in her experience of participating in the conversations..

One simple tool she gave us was that when we were in the group, that everyone help out by having only one person talk at a time.
We are a lively group and we were used to just talking over each other and interrupting each other.
And she let us know that when that happened she could not hear and she could not follow a conversation.

We, as her friends, took on that so that if two or more people talked at once — it was our joyful job to support just one person talking at a time.
That works brilliantly because it allows everyone in the group to be much better listeners and therefore, the conversations are more engaging and satisfying.

Another simple thing she supported us in doing, was when we were in a restaurant to know where the speakers for the music were and ask to be seated as far away from them as possible. And lots more. She will coach you in having those conversation in a way that no one is put off by them..

Finally and again – I think what is so great about her coaching is she has lived your experience and she has tested all of this out on her own life and proved the efficacy of the practices she will give to you.

Your family and friends will thank you!

Thank you! Linda

by Gale Barnum
Landmark Forum Leader Emeritus