Understanding how to listen (I)

Listening is one of the indispensable skills we must acquire, master and effectively utilize if he is going to make a success of our lives. Listening is a sine qua non to any relationship.

“The most basic of all human needs is the need to understand and be understood. The best way to understand people is to listen to them.” Ralph G. Nichols

Effective listening is not passive but active.

“Active listening was first used in counseling and conflict resolution. These days, business professionals around the world employ the technique.

It makes sense: When it’s done right, active listening – fully listening to the speaker and providing verbal and non-verbal feedback – can help you to draw people out, avoid misunderstandings, foster collaboration, settle disagreements and gain people’s trust. Most of the best leaders have strong listening skills.” Robert Half

Listening is different from hearing. Hearing is the physical ability to perceive sound with your ears. If you are not hearing impaired hearing is an automatic involuntary action.

Listening however is paying attention to the words and sounds you receive by hearing and then understanding, decoding and interpreting and responding to it correctly and appropriately.

”Hearing is the act of perceiving sound and receiving sound waves or vibrations through your ear. Listening is the act of hearing a sound and understanding what you hear. Hearing is one of the five senses and it just happens all the time – whether you like it or not – unless you have a hearing problem. But if you listen, you are consciously choosing what you want to hear. You concentrate on what you hear in order to understand the message. For example, If I hear a baby crying out loud, I am using my sense of hearing, but when I hear a baby cry because he is hungry, it is a form of listening because I have attached a meaning to what I have heard.

Hearing is a skill where you use your ears only. It is one of the five senses. Listening uses different senses, like the sense of hearing, seeing, or sense of touch. Listening is a skill that lets the sound you hear go through your brain to process the meaning of it. Listening means also observing what you hear, like the speaker’s behavior and body language, in order to better understand what the speaker is talking about. Hearing is an involuntary act where you simply receive vibrations through your ears.

Listening is a form of a communication technique that lets you understand, interpret and put meaning to what you hear. Listening can build a better relationship with others, while hearing is just merely receiving sounds through your ears.” Difference between.net

TO BE CONTINUED

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