The Art of Listening
Posted on May 10, 2012 by Servando Navarro, One of Thousands of Performance Coaches on Noomii.
Strengthen your relationships by developing better listening skills.
By Servando Navarro, CPC, ACC
The act of listening is based on the act of loving, self-giving; and, thus, listening becomes an art. Let me quote a very famous song by Josh Groban that says, “everybody wants to be loved, to be heard and to be understood…” The key factor is to become “love”, and share it unconditionally whit others, in order to be loved. The easy way to start is by lovingly listening to others.
Listening to others attentively implies giving ourselves to others unselfishly, by virtue of offering all we are.
Your whole being must be involved, engaged in the art of listening; your body –physical senses, all of them–; your mind –grasping the meaning of what is being said–; and your spirit –your heart is in union with the speaker, and your intuition and other spiritual senses inform you of what is being said beyond words–. Hence, all who you are, your entire being, is devoted to the noble task of listening, and you become an artist, capable to create a memorable experience for both, the speaker and the listener… because you are “here” and “now” listening.
Here is why, “it is through integral listening how people understand each other.” This is a very easy tip for you to strengthen your relationships. To put it in simple words, this art consist in selflessly devoting yourself to the service of others, through the practice of opening your heart to love and compassion while listening.
Therefore, an artist of listening never practices “selective hearing”; but, rather, is permanently open to all sort of messages, to the extent that listening becomes a way of living. Listening is not anymore a simple task; listening is the “chief attitude” enlightening one’s life.
As a result, the listener is able to pay heed –which is, to hear with intention–,
1) to what others have to say;
2) to what your mind, body and spirit have to say;
3) to what the world has to say; and, finally,
4) to the prompts of the Spirit.
