The first century Greek philosopher Epictetus said: \u2018We have two ears and one mouth so we can listen twice as much as we talk.\u2019 Taking that on board means being \u2018quick to listen, slow to speak.\u2019<\/i> Good listening builds relationships. But good listeners aren\u2019t born, they\u2019re bred! So here are a few suggestions to improve your listening: <\/p>\n
(1) Listen without interrupting.<\/i> Resist the temptation to jump in and finish the sentence, or hijack the floor. Rein yourself in\u2014just listen. <\/p>\n
(2) Listen to understand.<\/i> Try to grasp their point of view, feelings, thinking and needs. Good listening is hearing what they actually think, mean or feel, not what you imagine they do. Instead of guessing, ask, \u2018Am I understanding you correctly? Do you mean\u2026? Are you feeling\u2026?\u2019 In other words, don\u2019t assume\u2014verify. <\/p>\n
(3) Listen without judging.<\/i> Don\u2019t rush to conclusions. If what they say doesn\u2019t quite add up, keep listening. \u2018He who answers a matter before he hears it, it is folly and shame to him.\u2019<\/i> (Proverbs\u00a018:13\u00a0NKJV<\/sup>) When you hear more, it may make sense. <\/p>\n (4) Listen without correcting, countering or devaluing.<\/i> Saying, \u2018That\u2019s not the way it was,\u2019 or, \u2018What did you expect? If you hadn\u2019t\u2026\u2019 or, \u2018You\u2019re just being too sensitive,\u2019 puts people on guard and stops real communication. <\/p>\n (5) Validate the speaker.<\/i> Accept their perceptions and feelings as valid expressions of a valued person. \u2018If I understand you correctly, you\u2019re thinking\u2026 feeling\u2026 Am I right?\u2019 Ask them to help get you on the same page with them. \u2018Given what you\u2019ve told me, I can see why you\u2019d feel what you feel,\u2019 is very validating and will increase their confidence and willingness to consider the solutions you may offer.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The first century Greek philosopher Epictetus said: \u2018We have two ears and one mouth so we can listen twice as much as we talk.\u2019 Taking that on board means being \u2018quick to listen, slow to speak.\u2019 Good listening builds relationships. But good listeners aren\u2019t born, they\u2019re bred! So here are a few suggestions to improve […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_et_pb_use_builder":"off","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ucbmedia.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1461"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ucbmedia.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ucbmedia.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ucbmedia.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ucbmedia.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1461"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ucbmedia.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1461\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ucbmedia.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1461"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ucbmedia.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1461"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ucbmedia.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1461"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}