Becoming a better listener takes a lot of effort, practice, and patience. But one of the best gifts we can give a friend is taking the time to truly listen to them. Some of us are born with the gift of listening ears. Others need a little practice to develop the skill of listening. So, if you want to boaster your listening skills, implement these three simple ear-training skills into your day.
Reset Your Ears
Reset Your Ears Take 5 minutes each day to reset your ears by sitting in silence. 5 minutes without any noise or minimal noise allows your ears to recalibrate so you can be a better listener through out the day.
Exercise Your Ears
Listening requires more than hearing, it requires focus. At certain points during your day take a moment and close your eyes. Try to pick out one sound in the room and hear only that sound. Allow the other sounds to fad in the background and the one sound you have chosen to be the main focus of your ears.
Teach Your Ears
The hardest lesson I had to teach my ears was to put aside my own mental agenda of how I think things should be done and graciously give food for thought rather than directions and demands. I found the following teaching phrase helpful in my education in how to listen well…
Teach your ears to focus completely on the person who is talking to you.
Teach your ears to listen for ideas and not just the words.
Teach your ears to be information gathers rather than problem solvers.
Teach your ears to listen to the tone, pitch, and volume of the other person’s voice.
Your ears may need some help. So, before giving someone your full attention remove or minimize extraneous auditory distractions by turning off the phone, lowering the music, closing a door, or placing aside whatever activity you are doing at the moment.
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