How to Listen Well

Communicating properly has as much to do with listening as it does with talking to someone else. Learning how to be a good listener will help improve all of your relationships.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

1. When you are trying to talk to someone, it can be easy to tune out what they are saying and let your mind wander. Keeping your focus on the person talking, without interrupting them, has to be done on purpose. Looking at them will help you remember to listen and pay attention.

2. When it's your turn to talk, repeat what you think they were saying. This is important, because sometimes in communication the meaning can get lost in our interpretation. Repeating it as you understood it, asking if you understand what they meant, will give them the opportunity to correct any misunderstanding by rephrasing what they said so the point is clear. It will also keep you from misunderstanding the meaning and getting angry or hurt over it.

3. After you have the full meaning of what they said, you can respond to the points made. When you are done, make sure the proper understanding is there of what you meant, by carefully listening to them repeat what they heard. If they didn't understand correctly, repeat what you said by rephrasing it.

Tips & Warnings

• Being a good listener is important in any relationship. If you communicate well with each other, you will have much less misunderstanding, hurt feelings and arguments.
• When you are practicing listening well, it can be difficult to keep your attention focused. Try to make eye contact, and respond once in a while with nodding or in some other way letting the other person know you are listening. Keeping distractions to a minimum will help you focus on the conversation.

[drewshotmom]

on 6/15/2009 Amen! Very good! Now if everyone would just read this please...5*!

[michelemarie]

on 6/15/2009 Great article Jean. We all need to be a better listener