The beauty of the Pursuit of Happiness is that no matter who you are, where you live, what you know, when you were born, or who you love, you can be happy. True happiness is above the five W’s and so are you. Learn how to find happiness in the good and bad times of life. Believe it. Read it. Be happy.
Joe Douglas
– Editor-in-Chief –
Listen here…
Listening is an underused and misunderstood element of communication. It’s not because people don’t like listening, it’s because they don’t know how to properly do it. It’s much easier to say something than to listen to someone else. However, practicing and developing good communication skills provides several benefits.
First, “listening” is commonly mixed up with “hearing.” Listening and hearing are two very different things. Hearing is a passive act that takes no energy. Listening, on the other hand, is an active art and actually requires concentrating entirely on the speaker.
Take a look at the Chinese symbol for “listen.” It’s made up of four characters: “ear,” “you,” “undivided attention” and “heart.” Listening takes an ear, whether it comes in the form of flaps of cartilage on the sides of the head or in a person’s eyes, a person must be able to receive information from someone else. Listening also requires you. If you’re thinking about other things, the person is better off talking to a brick wall.
Undivided attention means ignoring all other distractions, even your own thoughts. Place all focus on the person talking and only the person talking. Lastly, listening takes heart. You must want to listen. Without it, you won’t remember most of what the person said and the speaker will likely notice it.
Also consider the L.A.D.D.E.R. acronym. Listen carefully by remembering what the person says. Ask questions that follow up on what the other person said. Don’t interrupt; no matter how important what you’re saying is, assume it’s probably not as important as what the person talking has to say. Don’t change the subject abruptly; it’s extremely rude and makes the speaker feel like you don’t care about what he/she has to say (the same goes for “Don’t interrupt”). Control your emotions by expressing level enthusiasm. Also, respectfully listen; even if he/she is boring, suck it up and be appreciative of the opportunity to learn something.
Listening is an easy skill to learn but difficult to apply. Use it when conversing with a friend, in an interview, when talking with a lover, and when on the job.
Listening is applicable everywhere. God gave us two ears and one mouth so we could listen twice as much as we speak.
Most people listen to others when the other person is talking about something interesting. Being a good listener also means listening to topics that aren’t very interesting.
Good listeners reap several benefits. A good listener is better at making friends, and building and maintaining those relationships than someone who doesn’t listen often. In fact, people who listen more than they speak in a conversation are actually seen as better conversationalists and are held with higher regard by their peers.
People who employ proper listening skills are also more likely to succeed in an interview, do better at work, enjoy longer-lasting and more meaningful relationships, and expect quicker promotions.
I hope someone was listening.
