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How To Be A Better Listener
I think it’s the season of miscommunication or that’s just where society has gone where I feel like no one actually LISTENS to what others say.
“Listening closely when someone else speaks is an art few practice these days.” – Susan Reynolds
It’s no secret that many people do not listen when someone else is speaking, and that we are starting to lose respect for one another by not listening. If you are looking to be a better listener, a better friend, coworker, parent, caregiver, or child then learning to listen closely is extremely important.
I don’t know about you, but I feel like we could all try to do better about listening to each other. It really can change things.
These 5 steps for improving attentive listening come from the book 3-Minute Positivity by Susan Reynolds. Read through them, and begin to implement them into your daily conversations.
- Find the proper environment. If someone has something important to tell you, seek a quiet place, with no interruptions, and turn off your phone.
- Look into the eyes of the other person, but also be sensitive to their body language and adjust if they seem uncomfortable with the intensity of your look, or the amount of space between you. (Read social cues if you can)
- Be fully present, stop all interfering thoughts, and truly pay attention to what the person is saying. Most of us only half listen.
- Wait for natural breaks to ask questions. Occasionally validate what you are hearing them say. “So, you are telling me that you feel…” – (very therapy like, but hey, it really does work)
- Avoid offering solutions. Most often, people just want someone to truly listen and care. When they are done speaking, you can gently ask if they’d like to know what you think or what you’d do in a similar situation.
To Recap:
Truly listening is the best way to show someone how much you value them. Giving someone your full attention deepens connections.
If you’re looking for help learning to listen even better you can also connect with a professional about it! Calmerry has some great options for relationship counseling (text, video, call)
Not everything is going to be rainbows and sunshine, embracing and acknowledging our emotions will help us to live a positive lifestyle.
What this book taught me:
Emotions are neither good nor bad. We need all emotions in order to operate as a true emotional intelligent human being. This book is entry level into being mindful and learning to work with emotions. The title is about positivity, but it doesn’t just talk about being positive all the time. Susan helps to break down different emotions, and how to work with all of these emotions in our daily lives. She created certain journal prompts or questions to ask yourself. Plus, it’s just a quick 3 minutes a day!
Disclaimer: This book can make you have a positive outlook on life. You can learn how to work with what you’re feeling at any given moment to bring your body and mind back to a peaceful state. We can’t be happy every single second of the day, it’s just not plausible nor would we want to be. Our emotions serve to guide us through life, so why not look at all emotions in a different light?
I’ve linked the book below if you want to take a look. I am a big believer of keeping books and bookstores alive, but I (like most people I think) don’t like to pay full price for things. So I have provided two options if you wanted to grab your own copy. I also make sure that I support local bookstores by purchasing some of my books through them. It’s balance…just like everything in life. 🙂
Amazon – for quick turn around and low prices. (I can’t help it either sometimes)
And BookShop.org that supports your local book stores when you purchase a book through them. They pull the closest book stores in your zip code and the FULL profit goes to that bookstore.
If you want more positive vibes don’t forget to sign up for my newsletter below. Don’t worry, I don’t spam. Cause no one likes that nonsense.
Sending you all the Good Vibes💜✨🌙
“When dealing with people, remember you are not dealing with creatures of logic, but creatures of emotion.” – Dale Carnegie, Author
Want to work on listening to yourself before listening to others?- Check out: How to be mindful
