Wednesday, November 9, 2016

The Lost Art of Listening

This is really just a germ of an idea that has been rattling around in my brain for a week now.

In this faceless, instant communication society, with the use of Facebook, Twitter, and the like we are so quick to 'speak' our minds but we are losing the ability to LISTEN to what others are saying.

So many people have 'unfriended' others over the election, over their religion, over their beliefs, whatever. Have you ever thought about why you became friends in the first place? When's the last time you actually TALKED to them, and really LISTENED?

We need to re-cultivate our listening skills. Each one of us.

Ask questions and LISTEN to the answers. Take a moment of silence to THINK about what was said, and not just reply immediately.

This is an idea that I want to flesh out for a class that I teach, and so as I'm doing that I will post more here, and have some links that I want to look at in more depth later.

https://www.americanexpress.com/us/small-business/openforum/articles/5-ways-to-master-the-art-of-listening/

https://www.psychologytoday.com/collections/201210/the-art-listening

https://lonerwolf.com/the-art-of-listening/

http://unpan1.un.org/intradoc/groups/public/documents/unssc/unpan010392.pdf