It is true that we all want to be heard and at the very least we want to feel heard. It is huge in marriages and child rearing. Most of our social woes reflect people that don’t feel heard. Many of our issues with being heard are surrounded by issues of listening. Below are some articles from this week’s “Duke’s Weekly Reads”. Take some time this week and be intentional about listening to what others are saying and how your family, friends, and colleagues are communicating to you.  

The Science and Art of Listening

HERE’S a trick question. What do you hear right now? If your home is like mine, you hear the humming sound of a printer, the low throbbing of traffic from the nearby highway and the clatter of plastic followed by the muffled impact of paws landing on linoleum — meaning that the cat has once again tried to open the catnip container atop the fridge and succeeded only in knocking it to the kitchen floor. The slight trick in the question is that, by asking you what you were hearing, I prompted your brain to take control of the sensory experience — and made you listen rather than just hear. Read More  

Tips on Effective Listening 

“We were given two ears but only one mouth, because listening is twice as hard as talking.” Brief Theory of Communication  Expressing our wants, feelings, thoughts and opinions clearly and effectively is only half of the communication process needed for interpersonal effectiveness. The other half is listening and understanding what others communicate to us. When a person decides to communicate with another person, he/she does so to fulfill a need. The person wants something, feels discomfort, and/or has feelings or thoughts about something. Read More  

10 Tips to Effective and Active Listening Skills

Do you feel unheard? We’re here to listen. Talk with a free and confidential mentor. Listening makes our loved ones feel worthy, appreciated, interesting, and respected. Ordinary conversations emerge on a deeper level, as do our relationships. When we listen, we foster the skill in others by acting as a model for positive and effective communication. In our love relationships, greater communication brings greater intimacy. Parents listening to their kids helps build their self-esteem. In the business world, listening saves time and money by preventing misunderstandings. And we always learn more when we listen than when we talk. Read More  

Listening Effectively

In a Nutshell Almost everyone sincerely believes that he or she listens effectively.  Consequently, very few people think they need to develop their listening skills.  But, in fact, listening effectively is something that very few of us can do.  It’s not because listening effectively is so difficult.  Most of us have just never developed the habits that would make us effective listeners. Research has found that by listening effectively, you will get more information from the people you manage, you will increase others’ trust in you, you will reduce conflict, you will better understand how to motivate others, and you will inspire a higher level of commitment in the people you manage. Read More   After perusing the articles listed above, how do you believe you are doing as a listener? We could all use an occasional listening “tune-up”. We offer an affordable option for indidivuals and organizations to assess their listening skills. This small investment will benefit you tremendously in all areas of your life and you can check it out right here. ]]>

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