There is nothing more wonderful than someone really listening to you. Really listening means having your heart 100% present. It’s an empathic connection to the person who is speaking. It’s a lot different than simply hearing words.

There are a trillion distractions that prevent us from actively listening. Here are some common ones:

• Thinking of the next thing you’re going to say while someone is talking.
• Using a person’s words to do a word-association exercise in your head about yourself.
• Thinking of the next thing you’re going to do, or should be doing.
• Not staying focused and simply being distracted by random stimuli in the environment and within yourself.

Eye Contact

In our culture, eye contact is a critical piece of listening. Facial acknowledgement and body posture go along with eye contact. The result of not realizing the effects of mindful presence on communication is that many of us feel discounted and unimportant. We feel that no one is listening, so we stop singing our heart songs.

The pace of life, communication devices that both connect and separate us, virtual worksites with phone conferencing, all detract from the most critical aspect of human communication; bringing one’s full being into the interpersonal space.

Practice Listening