Hearing vs. Listening: Three Steps to Becoming a Better Listener
When communicating with others, I most often become frustrated when I feel the person is not listening to what I am saying. No matter how I say it, how many times I say it, explain, re-explain, or give specific examples about the topic, they are hearing me and not listening to what I am saying.
They hear my words but not my message. When this happens, I feel that the person is not taking me or my statements seriously or seeing my point of view. Too often, it seems the person with whom I am speaking is merely just patronizing me by hearing what I am saying and not listening to me. When they speak with me, I feel they are talking down to me and they do not consider me their equal.
Have you ever felt this way?
Hearing vs. Listening
So many communication barriers are caused because we have a tendency to hear and not listen, and it is important to understand the difference between the two.
We hear many different sounds, but we really only listen to certain ones. Hearing is much easier than listening because hearing is an involuntary physical ability involving the ears. No conscious effort is required. As one of the five senses, hearing happens all the time and is the involuntary receiving of sound vibrations or waves through…
