Listening happens, but being good at listening takes focus and hard work. We learn reading and writing early in our school lives but, when it comes to learning listening most of us only hear “sit down and listen” or something more colorful. The extent of our schooling in the art of listening is lacking, and it should come as no surprise most of us are not great listeners.
Take heart, while listening takes work the actual steps leading to the summit are not steep and with just a smidgen of determination and repetition success can be yours.
I remember very well my first semester of college when I often jumped into a discussion with both feet never waiting for the person speaking to finish what they were saying. To me it was an exciting time to freely express my opinions and show everyone my chops. It never occurred to me that I was joining in only to hear my own thoughts become words, I would later realize I had no real interest in what others where sharing.
When the semester finished I counted the days till I could return and once again jump into the addicting fire of discussion, but when I returned the reality was far different than what I had anticipated. Almost from the moment I stepped foot on campus I ran into a couple of people who told me they’d missed me being around telling them what to do and how to think. The comments were not mean but I quickly understood a very sobering lesson that started me on the road to recovery. Being in a discussion requires active listening and mastering active listening takes work.
I put together a list of short blog posts that offer tools and ideas you can immediately use to become a better listener and to go further if you so desire in mastering active listening. You might wear a rubber band around your wrist and snap it a few times when you’re with others to remind yourself that it’s not all about you and indeed what others are saying is worth your time to pay attention to and shows a level of respect we all like to receive. At the end of the list I added a number 11 as a treat, a little rock n’ roll to stir things up.
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Found this quote while doing a #listening search at Twitter and thought it worth sharing…
Are you listening? #intention #inspiration #mindfulmatter #listen #listening #quote pic.twitter.com/9eP6T5zrZ2
— HOLSTEE (@HOLSTEE) January 8, 2015
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