How to Practice Active Listening?

Even though almost all of us are being taught from a very young age or for as long as we can remember to communicate with each other, but still we find it really hard in our day-to-day life. Mostly because almost all of us have a lot to share and not all of us have the patience of listening to others and what they are talking about. This is the reason why most of the communication classes lay emphasis on becoming a good listener first and later a good speaker. In fact, if you are not an active and a good listener chancer are you will never be a good speaker. For this, we present you with a short guide on how to practice active listening so as to be better at communicating. 

How to practice active listening:

Communication between two people is a two-way process and it is vital that you are ready to listen to others without hustling to speak.  Listening helps you understand what is being said in the best possible way and then reply accordingly. Here are a few things you need to know about active listening - 

• Face the speaker:

When you are talking to someone who is constantly looking somewhere else, doing something with your hands, avoiding eyes gaze makes it hard for you to share what you are sharing at best. Talking or communicating to such people is like you are hitting a moving target and no matter how hard you try you will end up failing or missing the right point. Most of the experts state that when you are talking to someone be it your friend or someone from the workspace it is vital that you make eye contact. But this does not mean that you keep staring at them, this will make them or anyone uncomfortable. Make sure you do it naturally. This will make others more heard and it will be easy for you to concentrate on what is being said.  

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• Open-Mindedness:

In the stages of life, you will come across various kinds of people each having a different kind of mindset and a unique thought process. Now you might connect with certain people and what they think and it is completely alright. But you need to be patient with people who do not have the same mindset as you. You need to keep an open mind in such conditions and make sure that you are not disregarding or derogatory in any way towards such people. One of the most important characteristics of active listeners is that you are open-minded to various kinds of thought and are ready to look at things from a different perspective.  

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• Stop interrupting:

No one likes to be interrupted now and then when they are talking about a certain thing. And if they get so, it is hard for them to concentrate on what they are saying and they end up losing some important point that they were originally going to share. If you recall, from a very young age we are taught that it is considered to be bad to interrupt others while they are talking and that one should avoid doing so. Avoid asking various kinds of questions and do not put forth any kind of ideas or suggestions and so. It is vital to understand that none of us is trying to be preached when we are going through a problem. For more on this, you might consider opting for the best personality development guru and get more insights on the same. 

• Ask to clarify:

When a person is sharing something with you it is quite important that you avoid asking them unimportant questions or so. Yes, you can always feel free to ask questions so understand them more properly and how they are feeling about a certain thing. Make sure that what you ask is always linked to what is being talked about or else the person will end up feeling that you were not listening and in any case, you do not want that to happen. For more insights on the same, you can opt for personality development training and learn more about it. 

• Try to look for non-verbal clues:

When people are talking they try to communicate a lot by other things like gestures and postures. Thus while you are talking to people make sure that you are looking for various kinds of non-verbal clues to understand what is being said in a better way and feel what the speaker is feeling. Though this is not easy make sure that you always try to do so without being asked. This will improve the communication and the relation as well. 

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Knowing how to practice active listening on a routine is just a way of making sure that you are taking a step ahead in improving your relations with people in your personal life and those in the office. Make sure that before a good speaker you are an active and empathetic listener.