Listening skills are crucial for helping you to sustain positive relationships with other people. They are necessary in home, business, workplace and classroom settings, as well as in public and social situations, like dining in restaurants and shopping. Many people lack good listening skills, as they do not place much importance on this critical ability.
Paraphrase
Whenever you listen to someone talk to you, try to make it a habit to provide the other person oral acknowledgments, such as "I understand," "I see" and "I get it." Try to restate what this person has said periodically to you in your own words as well. This is called paraphrasing and is an important exercise for two reasons. It helps you stay actively involved in a conversation, which helps prevent having your attention wander away. Paraphrasing also helps prevent misunderstandings from occurring in your conversation. If you have not understood something properly, the other person can correct you when you repeat back to him--in your own words--what he has said.
Still the Mind
This is a difficult exercise to perform well, but it is important to at least attempt to improve your listening skills. Stilling the mind requires a bit of finesse, as it involves not becoming distracted by your own train of thoughts to remain fully present with the person who is communicating something to you. Being completely in the present moment helps you to pay attention more fully to the person you are having a conversation with. It also helps prevent you from interrupting the person you are communicating with, which is an important aspect of listening well to someone else. Yoga and meditation are two practices you can try to help you still your mind on a more regular basis.
Ask Questions
Ask questions any time you seek clarification about something or have not understood what the other person has said. This is another exercise to improve your listening skills. Asking questions can also help prevent misunderstandings and aids in keeping a conversation alive. Stilling the mind is a helpful prerequisite for asking appropriate questions because by being present with the other person, you can come up with more meaningful questions that enable a conversation to go deeper. Often, people who lack good listening skills tend to ask questions that cause the other person to simply repeat what he has already said. This is not only tiring for that person, but it also slows down the pace of the conversation and makes the other person feel unappreciated.
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