For my first blog post, I thought it was going to be hard to find just one sentence from two chapters on communication. However, it didn’t take me long to chapter four to find the quote that stood out to me. I chose, “I do not merely hear with my ears, I hear with my whole body. My ears are at best the focal organs of hearing.”

Not only is that a quote that should resin with a lot of people, but I’ve also been hearing it a lot since I changed my major to communication. Listening is not just hearing, it is listening with the intent to respond, to really thoroughly understand what the other person is saying. There are so many different facets to listening, from just plain old hearing, to understanding, to body movements, and finally, the response.  There is a term I have heard a lot lately, and it is called “Active Listening” and how silence can speak so much louder than you think!

In an article by Judit Nuszpl, at leadership and flow.com relates it to spousal conversations, the wife will feel so much more heard if you use head nods and gestures than just a blank stare. I have used this I my personal life, and it has made a profound difference in the way I understand what people are sating and how they react when I respond.

Nuszpl, Judit. “Active Listening Is More than Just Hearing.” Leadership Flow, flowleadership.org/active-listening-is-more-than-just-hearing/.