The Importance of Active Listening
The Importance of Active Listening
TheVintageNestBlog | Teodoro Jun Jaen Jr., Correspondent | Do you frequently misunderstand what your partner or a coworker is trying to communicate with you at work? Do you discover that you are questioning the responses that you have given to them? The most majority of individuals are aware when others are speaking to them; but, the vast majority of our interactions are not focused, and as a result, we may listen to people speak without fully hearing what they wish to express to us. Learning how to listen is a skill that helps us to clear our minds of thoughts and behaviors that may interfere with our ability to hear what the other person is trying to say, rather than what we think they are saying. This allows us to focus on what the other person is actually trying to communicate with us.
Learning how to listen to the people around us is also part of the process of discovering who we are as individuals. We take the time to understand what other people are saying to us, and in the process of doing so, we think about how their words are affecting us. In this way, we are able to determine the natural way in which we react to other people’s words, and we can also consider how we would like to react to them. Rather than responding to the comments and thoughts of other people as a reaction, we take the time to understand what they are saying.
Then, we can learn and put into practice methods of self-control, which will assist us in responding in a manner that is more appropriate to anything that other people may say to us.
You might be familiar with the term “reflective listening” when referring to active listening. It requires being attentive to the conversations taking place around us and making an effort to comprehend not only the words people use but also the ideas that lie behind those words. When we want to make sure the other person understands what we think they’ve stated, we’ll ask them questions like “so you mean this.” Instead of lashing out in anger and using a “you” phrase like “you always do this,” we use words such as “I feel angry when you say that.”
Our attention is not being directed onto the words that are being said, but rather the person who is saying them and what they intend to convey with those words. It may take some time to get used to this kind of listening, but once we do, it will completely transform the way we relate to other people, how we engage with them, and what we discover about ourselves as a result of these interactions.
If, when you are having a conversation with other people, you find that you are occasionally misunderstood, you probably already know how important it is to actually have your words heard and not simply have them listened to. You will quickly learn the expressions and body languages that you individually find challenging to deal with as we begin to practice active listening. This will happen very quickly. When engaging in conversation with other people, you will gain valuable skills and characteristics that will enable you to maintain mental and emotional composure, allowing you to contribute constructively to the conversation.
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Source: TalkinTagalog
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