One thing that I struggled to do was to listen. I was so bad at listening that at a point, people found it hard to talk to me. I remember how my closest friend wasn’t talking to me for a while. I actually confronted her about it, and then she told me it’s not like I’ll even listen to her.
I wanted to argue my way out, saying that I do listen to her, but then deep down, I knew it was a lie. Although I was hearing, listening was a big struggle. So I made up my mind to learn how to listen. It sounded funny and easy in the beginning until I started.
As someone who has over 1000 thoughts racing through her mind, I would always interrupt people whenever they were talking. And then when I came to my senses, I would apologize and tell the person to continue talking. This is the third time I’m saying it was a struggle because it really was a struggle.
I later learned that one of the simplest ways to learn how to listen was to ask questions. So instead of pouring out those thoughts, I started asking questions. And the thing with questions is that you ask because you want to know. So the moment the person starts answering, you pay full attention, and through that, you listen to satisfy your curiosity.
I started asking a lot of questions. I already like asking questions, but it became very serious. And gradually, my interest started getting piqued all the time in conversations. Later, I started asking the questions in my head and following whatever the person was saying. And before I would realize, the question had already been answered. And that’s how I knew I was beginning to listen and not just hear.
Within a short time, I came to know so much about so many things and people. And one thing I realized is that the way our minds are wired is so different yet beautiful. You could have an opinion about something and then hear someone else’s, and although it’s about the same thing, you just get wowed. And in the end, you also learn something new.
Anyway, I’m not the best listener you’d find out there, but I’m a good listener now. And one thing I’ve realized is that you get to know so many things just by listening. They said there’s so much knowledge in books, but trust me, if you are one to listen attentively, you’ll actually learn so much. Especially when it comes to dealing with people.
Images are mine