Is Listening A Behavior

Listening should be an engagement of minds to unleash a thought or a vision or heal old wounds.  This mutually aligned engagement must serve as a tool to guide and inform. I have learned over the years listening for many is not easy. It’s difficult because these same people are too busy thinking about what they will say next to be clever, insulting, and egotistical. The countless conversations that I have been a part of lends itself to seeing that others pay no attention to what you’re saying, but they want you to hear everything they are saying.

To perform what I do requires a great deal of patience and a commitment to help, not discourage. It helps make what I do exciting and an authentic learning experience. The years that I have been blessed to witness have taught me many things that helped me understand myself. Understanding self makes you marketable and sought out where people seek you out for advice. It is also vital that you seek to understand and then be understood. Therefore, the lesson here is to listen and allow a story to be told, and once that is done, repeat the story and create a mutual dialog of clarity, not one of defending or making excuses.

So, the two significant components to listening are: Allow someone else’s story to be told, and then repeat what you heard to create a dialog of mutual achievement affirming others’ pain and hurt. Everyone needs to be heard, not criticized. To introduce the psychology behind listening is a matter of mutual respect to uncovering the unknown. When people talk, listen completely. Listen with curiosity by listening with the intent to understand. What’s in your mind, the real you emerges. To that end, listening is a behavioral process!