Sometimes we have trouble being able to hear everything around us. The loss of attention is very common, especially among the smallest and the oldest in the house. In the case of children, it is normal that overstimulation does not help them to be able to pay attention. In the case of the elderly, the lack of stimuli prevents them from concentrating on something other than their own thoughts. Likewise, if you go through periods of stress or have a lot on your mind, you probably won’t be able to listen to what people are telling you.
Learning to listen is an art and knowing how to do it is an ideal way to make relationships between people better. Think that most of the problems we have when we interact with friends, colleagues, relatives or strangers, is the lack of attention that we usually pay to what they tell us. If you start spending a little time listening to others, you will see how, very soon, your relationships with people improve.
Is it hard to know how to listen?
It really isn’t, but it requires a lot of concentration on something other than ourselves and our own problems. Luckily, we are going to teach you some simple tips that will help you learn how to listen to other people. Knowing how to listen will open the doors of new jobs and friendships and will allow you to improve the social relationships you currently have. If you are ready to learn how to do it, keep reading this post. Let’s get started!
What do you need to listen?
To know how to listen we are going to need:
- Read the next post
- Think a little more about others and a little less about ourselves
- Pencil and paper or, failing that, a desktop computer
- A little inspiration and a lot of patience
Instructions to listen
Step by step to know how to listen:
- Learn to concentrate, this is undoubtedly the key to knowing how to listen. The most imploring thing you will have to learn to know how to listen is how to concentrate. It seems simple but it is not at all. Try to focus on specific things that don’t usually attract your attention as an exercise to be able to control what you pay attention to.
- Eliminate distractions. If you want to be able to listen to other people it is important that you eliminate distractions, both internal and external. Turn off the TV, the music, don’t get lost in your thoughts or pay attention to the mobile phone. What’s more, do you realize how much attention you are capable of concentrating on your phone? Well, a person you have in front of you deserves all that interest and much more.
- Focus your attention on the person speaking to you and on what they are telling you. Even if you find it tedious or even if you don’t understand it well, try not to get lost and listen to what they tell you. The lack of attention in schools is very common because students are not able to listen to their teachers. One way to get more attention to the person who interacts with you is to pay attention to their eyes, their movements, their face, their body expression, and, of course, their words.
- Only do a task when you really want to listen. Many times we believe that we are capable of doing several things at the same time and listening to the people around us. Don’t kid yourself, this is not true. If while they are talking to you you are washing the kitchen, watching TV, studying or paying attention to your mobile phone, you will not remember half of the things they are telling you and you will not be able to really pay attention. Focus your attention on a single stimulus: the person in front of you and speaking to you.
- Learning to listen to the music that accompanies us every day is a simple way to train ourselves to be able to listen to other people. If you notice, when we listen to music, we usually don’t pay attention to the lyrics or what the songs tell us, we just hum the rhythm and let it accompany us. If you want to learn to listen you can use this simple trick: pay attention not only to the sound of your songs but also to their lyrics. This way you will learn to keep your attention fixed on an element without external distractions.
- Use music as a tool. On many occasions ambient music and even sounds known as “white noise” are able to help us increase our concentration. Using them to relax our mind and increase our concentration is a great trick if you need to study, memorize or start paying attention to other things.
Tips for listening
A few last tips to know how to listen:
Remember that listening is not simply about hearing, you need to understand what they tell you and internalize it. Try to pay more attention to your surroundings and less to your thoughts. The more you focus on yourself and what’s going on in your head, the less easy it will be for you to listen and learn from others.