The Importance of Listening

As I’m sure you’ll be unsurprised to learn if you’ve read any other posts on this blog, I talk. A lot.

A difficult but important lesson I’ve had to learn is to listen. Easier said than done.

In our modern 21st century world, information and news travels so fast that people seem to have something to say about everything. Just because we have an opinion, doesn’t mean we need to have it expressed the exact moment it pops into our brains. A more acute connection and filter between what we think and what we say, while difficult to create, is a skill that I consider essential and important to foster more reliable and deep relationships with those around us.

Something that I have found helpful when chatting to friends now is to take one full breath when I think that they’re done talking, to see if there is in fact more they want to share. Often, they’ll be even more likely to speak more openly about what’s on their mind if they believe you have that interest to really hear it!

Although it can be difficult, it does help in the process of building less superficial relationships overall. As well, if we don’t learn to create that personal filter between out thoughts and our mouths, we risk sharing things we might not have wanted to in the first place. Do people really need to know about your preferred toothpaste brand? Is is essential that we hear about how you cleaned out your dogs ears? Will hearing your viewpoint on the smoothest toilet paper really help us through the day?

Building that intuitive “will I want this person to remember this about me?” sense will help in the long run, and it’s a valuable skill to begin cultivating early.

The stages of listening

While this post has been short & sweet, I wanted to share my views on this topic as I often find it’s so easy to overshare, and regret what we said later. By taking the time to reflect, we can share what we want, how we want.

One might find that we will in fact hear and say more if we just take the time to really listen and reflect on what is being said around us.

Thanks for listening, lovely x