Listening is a skill. A skill that is not a gift granted to most of us. It's a learned skill. One that we can get better at with practice. Lots of practice. Practice that is afforded us many times throughout the day.
So what makes a good listener?
A good listener listens from the heart. Listening from the heart means that you are listening without judgment. That you are engaged in what the person is saying. That you are listening in the Present moment. This means you're not writing your grocery list or coming up with answers while the person is speaking. You are simply listening.
So what can you do to improve your listening skills? When someone is speaking to you:
- Listen intently.
- Use your body language to engage:
- eye contact with one eye--no shifty eyes
- appropriate facial expressions
- lean forward somewhat
- arms uncrossed so that you are open to receiving
- Don't interrupt. Allow the person to finish what they are saying.
- Clarify what you heard.
- Respond from your heart.
How can you improve your listening skills?
We can all benefit from learning to be better listeners. We don't necessarily need to have the same size ears as our friend in the picture, just ones that are open to listen to others.
ReplyDeleteThank you for your comment, Anonymous. Guess the image puts so much emphasis on the ears that it's easy to forget the heart :) But it was too cute to pass up.
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