Listening. We are always listening. Is this true? Or are we just hearing? Often times hearing and listening are confused but they are not the same thing. 
Posting about listening and how we can improve it from In All Things - an online hub committed to the claim that the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ has implications for the entire world.
http://inallthings.org/the-practice-of-listenin

Van Engen, Kae

English

Dordt College

Digital Collections @ Dordt Faculty Work Comprehensive List 6-4-2015 Practice of Listening Kae Van Engen Dordt College, kae.vanengen@dordt.edu Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcollections.dordt.edu/faculty_work  Part of the Christianity Commons Recommended Citation Van Engen, K. (2015). Practice of Listening. Retrieved from https://digitalcollections.dordt.edu/faculty_work/238 This Blog Post is brought to you for free and open access by Digital Collections @ Dordt. It has been accepted for inclusion in Faculty Work Comprehensive List by an authorized administrator of Digital Collections @ Dordt. For more information, please contact ingrid.mulder@dordt.edu. Practice of Listening Abstract "Listening. We are always listening. Is this true? Or are we just hearing? Often times hearing and listening are confused but they are not the same thing." Posting about listening and how we can improve it from In All Things - an online hub committed to the claim that the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ has implications for the entire world. http://inallthings.org/the-practice-of-listening Keywords In All Things, listening, communication Disciplines Christianity Comments In All Things is a publication of the Andreas Center for Reformed Scholarship and Service at Dordt College. This blog post is available at Digital Collections @ Dordt: https://digitalcollections.dordt.edu/faculty_work/238 The Practice of Listeninginallthings.org /the-practice-of-listeningKae Van EngenListening. We are always listening. Is this true? Or are we just hearing? Often times hearing and listeningare confused but they are not the same thing: Hearing is physically receiving and taking in the message,whereas listening is “the process of receiving, constructing meaning from and responding to spoken and/ornonverbal messages”.1 Listening requires so much more than just hearing.  If we truly listen, we canimprove our relationships with others. James reminds us, “Everyone should be quick to listen, slow tospeak” (James 1:19, NIV)Can we recognize when we aren’t listening? If we cannot repeat or rephrase what we just heard, we werenot listening. But if we can, were we really listening? And what is our response? Is it immediate, or aftersome thoughts? Often times we can repeat back what we heard; however true listening warrants a closerlook.Some things to consider…do we finish another person’s sentence because we know what they will say?Do we interrupt because what we have to say is more important? Is what we are doing more importantthan listening? Or, does our mind wander while someone is speaking? These are all important questionsto ask, and if we answer any of these in the affirmative, we need to take a look at our listening.Listening is a habit, one that has been developed over time. Perhaps our listening wasn’t encouraged,when our parents reminded us of certain things or a teacher repeated the instructions. And perhaps ourlistening has taken a back seat to the reading, writing and mathematics we learned in school. But listeningis important. Listening should be seen as a gift.  When we listen, we need to use our ears, our eyes, andour heart. It is something we must practice on a daily basis. “Listening is living—the quality of yourlistening is equal to the quality of your life.”2Listening is a behavior. We need to recognize what people say and how they say it. Often times listening isrecognizing what is not said, as well. Are we more concerned about finishing the task at hand, respondingto the most recent text received or preparing the dinner meal, than we are about listening? Do we stopwhat we are doing to give 100% attention to the message being delivered? We should. Listening takespractice, and is hard work; and so important as we work to build God’s Kingdom. We need to takeresponsibility for our listening. Some suggestions include:• We need to indicate through our leaned in body position, that nothing else is as important as what isbeing said• We need to offer direct eye contact• We need to respond with occasional “hmmm’s” and a nod of the head to indicate we are engaged in theconversationListening is a skill, a skill that needs daily practice. A couple tips to improve one’s listening• Put away, or put down, what it is you are doing, so you can focus on the person speaking to you. If it isn’ta good time, find a mutually agreeable time to have a conversation• Count to 3 before you respond, this allows the speaker to finish their thoughts, and you won’t interrupt• Ask clarifying questions, what is it you would like more information about, what do you not understand?Seek understanding• Take responsibility for the setting, stay focused, and don’t allow the distractions around you to affect yourlistening• Engage your eyes, your ears, your heart, as you listenAs one works to improve one’s listening, recognize there will be mistakes along the way. However, the goalshould be to recognize the changes one is making as one works to become a better listener. Listening ishard work, and it takes daily practice.Imagine the joy in families, work settings, communities, our nation and our world, if we would all practicelistening…what a difference we can make by offering this gift of love to those with whom we come intocontact with today!3Footnotes1. ILA, 1995 ↩2. Bommelje, Rick. Listening Pays: Achieve Significance through the Power of Listening , 2013 ↩3. If you want a book to enhance your listening, I strongly recommend Listening Pays: AchieveSignificance through the Power of Listening by Rick Bommelje. ↩

Practice of Listening

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