Thursday, February 23, 2012
Chapter 4 Post 2
Listening is key component in communication; it can change a conversation tremendously. The book describes listening as the desire to pay attention to the other person; it is characterized by openness to the other person's views, willingness to suspend judgement during the discussion, and patience to hear the other out. When I was younger listening was difficult because I was immature especially in the classroom; but when it came to friends having problems I was a great ear for them. Before even reading the process in the book; I would listen on what the problem they are going through at the time. Sometimes I put myself in there situation in my head or sometimes I can relate to it but I keep my thoughts to myself because its there time to speak. I concentrate on what they are saying but at the same time I do think about my own ideas maybe to help out there situation. I've learned that if someone is telling you something personal i.e. a death, you may think about the situation but never say "I can relate" but say "I can only imagine." This helps the speaker know that you got there undivided attention, you won't be able to relate to the person because your problems and there problems are completely different.
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Listening is definitely a major key component in communication. And yes, I agree with you that listening can tremendously change a conversation. Listening was extremely difficult for me as well when I was younger. I was so stuck in my ways that I didn’t care about what others were saying. But that was a while ago. I listen know. When someone is telling me a story, a lot of times I think on how I would have handled the situation differently. I feel that a lot of my friends don’t handle things as well as they should. So when they tell me stories, I would have handled it completely different.
ReplyDeleteHey Orvizzle, I liked reading your post. You bring up a great point that when we are young, we have a harder time listening. I think this is because we are distracted at that adolescent age, and do not see the importance of carefully listening. However, even now that we are adults, we still have difficulty listening all the time. You mentioned that if someone is telling you something personal or somewhat serious, we know we have to give them our full attention. I agree. I do think however, after reading this chapter, that it is important to listen all the time, severe situations or not, in order to be an effective communicator.
ReplyDeleteListening can make a situation sound so much different. You have to stop and hear what is really going on without reacting to it from the start. I think the biggest problem is sometimes in conflict is we are in a more emotional state without being able to actually stop and hear what is being said around us, and what the other person may be trying to communicate as well. Listening to what others say before reacting can make a potential big problem become a lot smaller.
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