Blog Post #1-August

Being a compassionate listener and seeing listening as not only a skill, but a way to be fully in the world is a concept that really interested me throughout our course instruction and reading so far. I desire to be a compassionate leader in order to be more present with the world and those around me, but I have found that it is hard in our society today.

In chapter 4 of our textbook the author discusses listening as a stance and how there are modes of listening that help us understand and consider the personal experience, context, and cultural expectations that make us think and act the way we do while listening. I believe this is vital when considering how we listen, and how these “distractions or noises” can affect our listening experience.

In my life I have tried to be aware of my listening skills and stance is a variety of concepts to not only further apply the concepts we are learning, but to also grow as an individual hoping to be a more present and compassionate listener. For example, I have noticed that when I am having a conversation with a friend in the quad at the university I become very distracted by the noise and context that I do not feel that I am listening to the individual to the best of my ability, so I have to really focus on listening to the person to be actively engaged. The alter of that is when I go on a walk with my roommate in the morning in my quiet and calm neighborhood I am not only able to actively engage and listen to her, but I am also able to observe the sounds around me in the environment to greater appreciate them.

I believe these examples can also really connect to what Julian Treasure spoke about in his TED talk we listened to in class. Treasure states, “We are losing our listening. We spend roughly 60 percent of our communication time listening, but we're not very good at it. We retain just 25 percent of what we hear.” I believe this quote relates to how I feel when I am listening to a friend in the quad trying to retain all the information that was just told to me. Treasure also discusses the idea of “enjoying mundane sounds.” I love this concept and I believe this relates to my experience of going on walks with my roommate because when my roommate and I are on not talking on our walk I try to actively enjoy and listen to the mundane sounds. Some of these sounds might be the chickens down the row, the sound of cars driving by, the slight sound of the breeze early in the morning, or the faint dog barking in the distance. These are all sounds I observed, listened to, and enjoyed on my walk which I believe truly are helping me be not only a better listener, but also more present.

I believe the comments that Treasure makes are honestly very powerful, but also very easy things to actively add to your daily life to grow in your listening skills. I believe the steps he teaches on are easy steps that can change an individual as a listener. I have already seen in my life how I have improved my listening skills since I have watched this video in class. I now have a strong desire to study and research more about steps to be an active listener. I found a Forbes article that touches on 10 steps to effective listening, and one of the points that stood out to me most was the point of “be attentive, but relaxed.” I believe this is important because you want to be present and show the person you are giving them your full attention, but you do not want to stare at them to make them feel heard. Overall all of this research has really intrigued me and I am super excited to continue to put these steps into practice. I truly believe we live in a society where everyone wants to be heard, but we struggle to listen to each other, therefore, I believe everyone can benefit from trying to improve their listening skills.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/womensmedia/2012/11/09/10-steps-to-effective-listening/#31b2277e3891

https://www.ted.com/talks/julian_treasure_5_ways_to_listen_better/transcript?language=en