Listening

Hello Readers,

Who are the people you go to when you want advice? Most probably not the hard, practical ones who are fond of telling you what to do, but to the listeners who are usually the kindest, sensitive and least bossy people you know. It’s because by pouring out your problems and worries to them that you begin to discover so much more about yourself. Some of the most successful people I have known are the ones who do more listening than talking and there is a big difference between listening and hearing. They are those rare people who ask ‘how you are?’ and then wait for an answer. Someone who is a good listener doesn’t jump in on your sentences, finishing them for you, or talk over you about something else totally irrelevant to the conversation. They don’t allow you to lose your thread and will let you finish talking before vital information is lost in transit. They understand that all a person really wants is an empathetic ear because they know how important it is to talk things out. Just offering a listening ear can be an enormous comfort to someone who really needs your help. The friends who listen to us are the ones we gravitate towards because the most important thing in communication is hearing what is being said and you cannot truly listen to anyone and do something else at the same time.

There are lots of people who love being talked about because that makes them feel important and the more you are willing to listen to them going on and on about themselves, you will make them feel more important than ever. And there are those people who never listen, they just wait for their turn to talk because these the types who think they ‘know it all’. They usually ignore good advice and look at you as though you are talking to a brick wall when you are trying to guide them in the right direction. They ask for help but are not prepared to listen and only hear the bits they want to hear when it suits them, blaming others, never themselves when everything goes wrong.

The word ‘listen’ has the same letters as the word ‘silent’ and the quieter you become, the more you can hear.

When you listen, it’s amazing what you can learn and when you act upon what you have learned, it’s amazing what you can achieve.

Until Next Week,

Love and Light,

Linda and The Lulas xxx