The Art of Listening
Monday, October 20, 2008 by Sunrita
All my close aquaintances have been talkers and I have been the listener, the very patient listener. I still remember all that each of my friends( and also foes) had confided in me years ago. There had been times when I almost dozed off while tryig to pay attention to friends' late night sob stories and most of the times I ended up sobbing along with them. The reason why, they still remember to give me a phone call, whenever they have to say something...anything.
Twenty six years of listening practice and no talking made me a complete silent person. I dread talking these days, go off...as in, if there exists a switch to my system, then it involuntarily turns off when there are too many people around. I actually am scared that no one will pay attention to me if I ever have anything to say, so much that, whenever I speak, I increase my talking speed to God knows how many words per minute to finish off my story as soon as possible....at the end of which, my listeners (poor souls :-) ) look completely harried, attacked and lost. Sorry pals....but I genuinely love that look on your face :) What can I do? You dont give me a chance to speak!!
I do not plan to whine in this post of mine, on the contrary, I would request one and all..."Please guys!!practice listening to others, coz, if you do not listen to people like us, then we would one day revolt and stop listening to you"
After all, who do we go to when we want to be listened? Not to practical people, who will tell us exactly where we are going wrong bluntly on our face and ask us to re-think the entire phenomenon in question. On the other hand,we go to someone, who will give us a patient ear, who would listen to the entire story and in the process help us feel relaxed and also make us find out a solution for ourselves and we go back home and have a good night's sleep.
Listening is an art. People who listens are emotionally closer to all, than people who talk. He is more beloved, magnetic and does universal good to the way a person feels just before speaking his heart out. Imagine, when we pray to God, it is only we who speak, He just listens, we earnestly hope that He listens. Why? Because we want to be listened to, all of us.
People who call themselves 'good listeners' speak to God more often (because He is the only one who listens :)) and have very few (may be, one or at the most two) friends who they confide in.
We should all remember that Listening is a great role, it is a gifted art. So, listen to your near and dear ones, listen to your child, listen to your husband, listen to your friend even listen to your enemy, let him speak as much as he wants. They will all thank you for that, in their heart of hearts, without even thinking conciously about it :)
Twenty six years of listening practice and no talking made me a complete silent person. I dread talking these days, go off...as in, if there exists a switch to my system, then it involuntarily turns off when there are too many people around. I actually am scared that no one will pay attention to me if I ever have anything to say, so much that, whenever I speak, I increase my talking speed to God knows how many words per minute to finish off my story as soon as possible....at the end of which, my listeners (poor souls :-) ) look completely harried, attacked and lost. Sorry pals....but I genuinely love that look on your face :) What can I do? You dont give me a chance to speak!!
I do not plan to whine in this post of mine, on the contrary, I would request one and all..."Please guys!!practice listening to others, coz, if you do not listen to people like us, then we would one day revolt and stop listening to you"
After all, who do we go to when we want to be listened? Not to practical people, who will tell us exactly where we are going wrong bluntly on our face and ask us to re-think the entire phenomenon in question. On the other hand,we go to someone, who will give us a patient ear, who would listen to the entire story and in the process help us feel relaxed and also make us find out a solution for ourselves and we go back home and have a good night's sleep.
Listening is an art. People who listens are emotionally closer to all, than people who talk. He is more beloved, magnetic and does universal good to the way a person feels just before speaking his heart out. Imagine, when we pray to God, it is only we who speak, He just listens, we earnestly hope that He listens. Why? Because we want to be listened to, all of us.
People who call themselves 'good listeners' speak to God more often (because He is the only one who listens :)) and have very few (may be, one or at the most two) friends who they confide in.
We should all remember that Listening is a great role, it is a gifted art. So, listen to your near and dear ones, listen to your child, listen to your husband, listen to your friend even listen to your enemy, let him speak as much as he wants. They will all thank you for that, in their heart of hearts, without even thinking conciously about it :)
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