Listening is more than hearing
Posted by Jeff in BlogJan 4th, 2010 | 3 responses
Matt Perman writes:
Listening is not simply, or mainly, hearing what the other person is saying. It is thinking about what they are saying, and doing so from their point of view.
Implication: This includes a willingness to be influenced by others. If you are generally unaffected by what other people say, you aren’t listening.
Do you agree?
3 Responses to “Listening is more than hearing”
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Absolutely agree Jeff. I would offer as well that if you aren’t listening you aren’t being truly relationally present to the other. There’s a sense which, if we’re not being affected by the other, that we’re not being truly present.
Nice, Bryan. Like that point you added: “if you aren’t listening you aren’t being truly relationally present to the other.”
I am growing in my listening aptitude, for it’s a learned discipline AND a core value of the heart, loving “the other.” That is, loving people as people, made in God’s image.
It is definitely a discipline, one which I know I can be sorely lacking at!