Become a Better Listener
Listening is complex. In its simplest form its something my dog can do. Effectual listening, however, requires more than your physical presence. It requires you to engage your heart and mind to understand not only my words but the part of myself I am communicating to you. Being heard, with this type of care, is essential. Are you a good communicator? Do you really connect with the people you speak too?
Take the next step:
10 Tips to Effective & Active Listening Skills
Train Yourself in the Art of Listening
Do you need to talk?
Being a listener is definitely difficult. I find when I pay attention to the people I’m communicating with, I can notice whether I’m talking too much and not listening. Most people are pretty quick to allow their eyes or body language to reveal what they feel. It does
take time to watch them and pay attention.
the key thing about listening is taking an active interest in what the other person has to say. truly valuing their thoughts and emotions an mean the world to them and once a person knows you actually care and value what they say they can and usually will communicate with you better and not fill like they have to include conversation filler on their way to saying what they really think.
Good points Kara and Jonathan! Becoming a better listener definitely takes work and it means that we do have to pay attention when we are communicating with people. Are we forming our next response rather than truly paying attention to what they are saying? Are we thinking about other things and letting our minds wander? As you said Jonathan, instead we need to take an active interest in what the other person has to say.
We need to listen to ourselves when and as we are speaking even as we think about what we are saying. As it has been said, it involves paying close attention to what the other party is saying and using your ears, mind and body and being part of what is being said. This means when one is speaking to us, we leave everything else we are doing so that we get all that the person is saying. When we pay attention fully, we are able to repeat what has been said in different words, otherwise we may never get what was said right by giving it a different meaning.