The Art of Listening

Do you consider yourself a good listener? Would your friends or your partner say that you are a good listener? During my lifetime, I have discovered that it’s not easy to be a good listener or to find someone who is genuinely interested in what you may have to say. Many people will hear the first couple of sentences and immediately change the subject to be about their personal experience without understanding what is being said. My favourite daily lessons is being able to observe how people interact with each other, even during COVID-19 more than ever. It appears to be even harder than ever before to find someone with all the skills of being a good listener.

Throughout my entire life, listening was taught as the most important skill to possess in order to survive. I didn’t understand it at the time, but I as I became older it made perfect sense. Remember when your mother or father would ask you to do something, but you may have been watching a program on the television and responded with okay, but never moved away from the television? There was always something about the third threatening yell to get you moving. It was enough to make you listen and move quickly to avoid a spanking. Often my mother reminded me of Sergeant Carter from Gomer Pyle the way she would drill us to see if we were listening to everything she demanded. Often, she would switch the script and make up a story to see if we were following…