Listen Up!

Think you really know how to listen? Ever wonder why people have such a hard time understanding each other? Remember that story that so moved you, you'll never forget it?

Words. Stories. Whispers. Shouts. Songs. Lectures. Sermons.  We spend much of our waking hours hearing a lot of language being thrown at us in a variety of ways. But are we really listening? How much do we not hear because we're focused on something else? When have you last felt that the person you were talking to really got it? Can you read between the lines of someone's story?

Humans are the only animals who tell each other stories, requiring at least one person speaking and the other listening.

Hearing is not the same as listening. Listening is paying attention. Listening means opening your mind to the picture that's being painted by the speaker. Listening is active. Hearing is passive. You can't turn off your ears but can choose not to listen.

When listening goes wrong, misunderstanding happens, communications get crossed, feelings get hurt. Diplomacy "The art of dealing with people in a sensitive and effective way" requires the ability for both "sides" to find common grounds of understanding and agreement on an issue of discussion.  Finding our common interests can only come if we can actually "hear" what the person is saying and "hearing" only comes if we turn off our own agendas and truly "listen."

So, in a world of technologies, relationships, duties and interests all competing for our attention, how do we truly listen when we need to? By Practicing!