Description
LISTENING is an art. To be well performed, it requires more than just letting sound waves enter passively into the ear. Good listening is an alive process demanding alert and active participation. As an art then, it requires knowledge and effort. It is in essence a mental skill which is developed primarily through training and practice. If we are to learn to know how to listen well, we must proceed as we would in learning any other art such as music, painting, architecture or acting. We must inquire about all the basic essentials of productive listening; and that done, we must practice faithfully until we have mastered the techniques.The art of listening is not something we can acquire through "do-it-yourself shortcuts. The good listener "listens between the lines. He constantly applies his spare thinking to what is being said." While he is attentive to what is being said, he is also aware of the total facts at hand, both in their verbal connotations and their nonverbal implications.
To be able really to listen, one should abandon or put aside all prejudices, pre-formulations and daily activities. When you are in a receptive state of mind, things can be easily understood; you are listening when your real attention is given to something.
Therefore, we listen really to our own noise, to our own sound, not to what is being said. It is extremely difficult to put aside our training, our prejudices, our inclination, our resistance, and, reaching beyond the verbal expression, to listen so that we understand instantaneously. That is going to be one of our difficulties.
ISBN:9789670658216
