"Despite being commonly connoted to the auditory sense, 'listening' is actually quite different from 'hearing'. 'Listening' is really not attached to any sense in particular, and is rather a state of mind that manifests THROUGH our senses. We can thus listen with our eyes, mouth, nose, and touch, as well as well as with our ears. However, most of the time, we are not actually 'listening' but perceiving through a default mode of distraction and reaction. To 'truly listen' means to 'practice' experiencing one's immediate reality as it truly is, rather than through old, habitual lenses. I say 'practice' because nobody is perfect at this, and there will always be distractions. But to 'truly...

“Let’s face it: Most people aren’t good listeners. In fact, most people — including your best friend who truly loves you to the moon and back — are terrible listeners. But it’s not their fault. No one (well, very few people) are out here trying to ignore your important thoughts and problems. They want to help, but listening is hard….”
[read more]

Do you believe you are a good listener and do others agree?
If you don’t have that reputation, it’s not your fault: your brain is designed to predict what other people are going to say next. You are often so busy listening to your brain’s plotting and planning that you can’t hear what the other person is saying….”

[read more]

“I believe that the ability to truly listen is one of the most important skills we can develop in this life—as leaders, as husbands and wives, as friends and coworkers.
Here’s a question I have asked in numerous workshops over the past few months: How many of you have had formal training in listening? It never fails to stun me when only about 10 percent of the attendees raise their hands.
Listening is such a critical skill—and yet so few have been trained in how to do it. Here is a short course….”

[read more]

“When sitting face-to-face in conversation with someone—a friend, child, partner, or work colleague—how frequently are you actually thinking about nothing else other than the words that are coming out of the other person’s mouth? Probably not too often. And you are not alone. Research shows that only about 10 percent of us listen effectively. We are so distracted by the cacophony of dings and tweets from our smartphones, not to mention our ever-growing to-do lists, that we struggle to focus and listen when people talk to us….”
[read more]