January Blog Post

Cody Martin

Christina Ivey

Comm 160

2/2/17

Critical Listening

In the reading Compassionate Critical Listening, Chis McRae states “We might begin to develop a more complex and inclusive understanding if we think of it as a stance, or an approach to an experience, rather than simply a matter of hearing or listening in ways that are passive or active…”  I enjoyed this reading; it drew my attention rather quickly. We as a society are moving at a rate that is quicker than we are wired to move. We are in a here now gone tomorrow mindset. We rarely relish the small conversations that could enhance our lives and not hinder it. Generally speaking, older generations are better at conversing, they enjoy longer deeper conversations, and will talk about anything that comes to mind that is fitting to the conversation. We have recently become more conditioned to receive our communication from other quicker than ever, love it or hate it, we have social media, and snaphat more specifically to thank. I do not profess to be a professional when it comes to communicating with others, however communicating is a large part of helping me make money. I have been a waiter and bartender for six years. During the course of my interactions at as a waiter, I have felt that it set a good base. My growth has primarily come more from bartending. I interact with more people, and more different people. There is one guest that came to my mind when I read the Critical Listening article, he will always walk up the bar and shake my hand and greet me, however he never looks me in the eye, instead he is surveying the room finding people he knows, he body turned all the while. One of the exercises we went through in class that had a large effect on me was the yarn exercise. This was something I found to be quite odd when we started doing it however I found that there were in fact major imbalances within the conversation that was taking place. This exercise I have found to me the most useful during conversations that excite me and want to make me overpower the conversation. I have simply kept a tally in my head and try to keep it at a 50/50.