Listen Up!

Most of us probably have taken a class in public speaking, but I doubt many of us have ever taken a class on listening. We often think about what we are going to say to someone, but I wonder if any of us spend much time thinking about how we are going to listen.

Listening's just not something we think much about.

Yet when it comes to every day life, and especially communicating with others, there's hardly anything more important we can do, than really listen to them. Since I know I'm so prone to talk too much and listen too little, I jotted down a few reminders to myself why it is important I work at listening to others.

(See if you can come up with some more...)

1. If I don't listen, I'm not really showing love to the other person.
2. If I don't listen, I'm acting like I'm more important than the other person.
3. If I don't listen, it's going to be really difficult to truly hear what the other person is saying.
4. If I don't listen, it's likely the other person won't listen to me.
5. If I don't listen, I may end up saying things that do not relate to the issue the person is talking to me about.
6. If I don't listen, it's going to be hard for me to know how to serve the other person.
7. If I don't listen, it's going to be hard for me to know what to say that will really help the other person.
8. If I don't listen, I'm not treating the other person the way that I would want to be treated if I were in their shoes.
9. If I don't listen, I'm not acting like Jesus, because I know he does an awful lot of listening to me.
10. If I don't listen, I'm treating the other person like a problem to be fixed rather than a person to be helped.