The Importance of Listening

First off, I think the importance of listening is often overlooked. People sometimes think that good communication solely means speaking well and clearly. But that is only half of communication. The other, equally important half, is listening well. I think good listening is slowly getting more and more difficult because of the type of culture we are in. Our attention spans are dwindling because our culture puts its focus on everything being fast paced, jumping from one thing to the next, only looking at the surface, and being less appreciative of deeper, more stimulating things. Because of that, it is more difficult for us to be able to really focus our attention on someone communicating to us, and internalizing what they are saying.

This is unfortunate, because I believe good listening can be one of the most beneficial things for a job, friendship, and of course, marriage. When someone is talking to us, they want us to listen well and really understand what they are saying. It can be frustrating, and even considered disrespectful, for someone to not really listen when you are trying to communicate something. And on the other hand, someone who knows you are a good listener will most probably appreciate you much more and your relationship can grow to much greater heights because of it.

Also, it can be beneficial to sometimes repeat over what the other person said, even in our own words, to the other person after they completed a thought, to show the person we are listening and really are internalizing the information. This technique can also save us from many potential problems, because sometimes, especially with close friendships or spouses, we assume the other person knows what we mean when we say something, but that is not always the case. So, by repeating something in our own words to the speaker, it gives them the chance to clarify what they meant if there was a misunderstanding, thereby saving us from possible miscommunication.

There is plenty more to say on this subject, but I’ll stop here. Hopefully, you have gained something from this post, and hopefully we can all become better listeners, or at least see the importance of listening.