Marques Evans

Communications 160

Chapter 4 Compassionate Listening  

“compassionate listening”  is very important when it comes to communication . If you can not actually listen when communicating with another person then only one person is actually doing the communicating.  I really like how compassionate listening isn’t just listening with your ears, it is also body language . compassionate listening is good body language. Good body language tells the other person that you are engaged  in the conversation and that you could advocate for what they are saying if need me.   A quote that stood out to me from  Don Ihde,  “ I do not merely  hear with my ears , I hear with my whole body, my ears are at best the focal organs of hearing”  (Pg. 67).  That quote really speaks to me because I feel that the ears may be the most  important way of listening, but they aren’t the only way of listening.  When  communicating with someone listening  to them and hearing them are two different things . When listening    to someone you are understanding the message they are communicating to you. When you just hear someone, you aren’t really comprehending the message is. To me those are the two mane differences between the two.  A quote I got from Livestrong.com says “ you can hear someone speak without listening to the words” (The Difference Between Hearing & Listening Skills , K. Gaskell).  That quote pretty much sums up everything I have been saying about hearing and Listening .