THE ART OF LISTENING

Mastering the art of listening is a journey, not a destination. It's about understanding, empathy, and connection. It's about unlocking the power of communication and fostering meaningful relationships. Let's delve into the nuances of this often overlooked skill.

Listening is perhaps the most important and most difficult part of having a healthy conversation.

Active listening develops our ability to listen and make an effort to truly understand what the other person is trying to say

• Being a good listener makes you an even better communicator
• Good listening skills help you understand other people’s perspective better and understand any underlying feelings they are unable to express
• Listen for curiosity and not for the sake of listening just to reply

All of us are afraid of new experiences and situations

try to live out these experiences with confidence and belief in yourself instead of stress and anxiety.

• The way we react to these situations and experiences reflect on how we will live our lives, and that is something you can control.

Criticism, like rain, should be gentle enough to nourish a man’s growth without destroying his roots

You have to take criticism with a grain of salt because you’re never going to please everybody

• Be mindful of the people that criticise you and before paying attention to them or letting their words get to you, ask yourself, does this person know what you’re going through?
• Does this person genuinely want you to grow and become better?

But we all got used to that after a point

We all learnt to deal with the people around us and the differences we have with them

• Most of us have reached out to the people that we haven’t spoken to in a long while
• Let go of the bad memories from the past and embrace this time

How to Step Out of Your Comfort Zone

The comfort zone is the wall between you and greatness and success, and the only way to tear down this wall is by pushing yourself into uncomfortable situations.

• To get out of your comfort zone: Identify the thing that is most important to you, the thing you want to move ahead with, and start working towards pursuing it.
• Take the first step out of the comfort zone by identifying and moving towards things that are unfamiliar and new to you.
• Step 4: Build courage to face your fears and move past them consistently.

Humanity is an ocean, if a few drops of the ocean are dirty, the ocean does not become dirty.

Let go of the harsh past and work for a beautiful and better future

• Humanity must not lose faith in humanity
• Working towards a better future is what humanity and togetherness is about

Step Out of Your Comfort Zone

If you do not step out of your comfort zone and put yourself in uncomfortable situations, you will not grow, develop, or reach your full potential

• The bigger the challenge, the harder you push yourself to work harder
• Setting unattainable goals for yourself will only lead to more stress, fear, worry, and anxiety which will lead to procrastination

Criticism

To grow and be better at what we do and even to be better people, we need outside criticism to guide us.

• While taking criticism, try to keep an open mind and keep your emotions out
• Constructive criticism helps you learn and understand your shortcomings and helps you make better decisions in the future

Humanity and togetherness

Humans are able to push past the point of negativity and let positivity take the spotlight

• We’ve seen time and time again, the power of togetherness and the message we’re able to spread together
• Through kindness, love and compassion, we’ve been able to get through those bad times and we’ve come back stronger and better than ever

Things not to do

Listen to understand, not to reply

• Avoid any and all narcissism
• Do not think about your reply or get distracted by anything else, keep your full attention on the speaker and their story
• Don’t give advice from past experiences

Frank A Clark

This was written in the midst of COVID-19 pandemic and a few days ago I came across this and decided to change it up a little based on the current situation going around.

• During the time of this pandemic, all our lives have changed drastically..

Since then we’ve all gotten used to this new way of life, in some ways, it has become the new ‘normal’.

Throughout this whole experience, right from the discovery of this virus, to seeing it rapidly spread globally, to getting the vaccine, and now to this point where things are getting more or less back to normal, we’ve consistently seen the power of togetherness and humanity

• We saw people coming together (while staying apart), keeping their masks on, staying home, and most importantly, constantly supporting and cheering on the people working hard for us

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