Listening

Sheri here,

Why empathetic listening?

Effective listening is listening with good eye contact, an environment free of distractions, attentive body language, and without turning the conversation to your needs or agenda.

Empathy is the ability to understand and share the feelings of another. Empathetic listening allows you to develop and enhance relationships with a stronger understanding of what is being conveyed, both intellectually and emotionally.

Empathetic Listening Experience

Recently, I had two individual and unrelated conversations with friends who were in the midst of distressing situation.

I had no solutions for them; but I listened with an open heart and an empathetic ear.

My friends honored me, trusted me, and felt I had the sensitivity just to listen and to allow them to unburden themselves.

I can honor their confidence and give them a friendly face to hear them without interruption.  My heart broke for each one, given their circumstances.

I could not fix the issues; but I could listen as they poured their heart out.

I felt honored, privileged, and grateful that I have learned how to listen. Just to listen with an open heart, eyes and ears.

Now Your Turn

Have you ever been in that situation, where you are helpless to make the circumstances different, and the best you could do was to let someone use you?  Use you as a sounding board – not asking you to fix; but to listen thoughtfully?

It is not an easy thing to do, is it?  To be there for someone, to allow them the dignity of a listening ear and not jump in with possibly remedies.  While we may not listen perfectly without jumping in with possible solutions, we can continue the effort of effective listening with an empathetic ear.

Listening effectively is a gift you can give another, whether in your personal or business life.

May you find yourself blessed with the skill when the situation arises.  Practice makes better!

Good open communication involves talking, listening, and appropriate body language.  It is not waiting for our turn to talk while we formulate our response and not pay deep attention to what they are saying.

Around Town Here

Thank you to all of you who support me regularly by reading my newsletter – I appreciate you.

Welcome to our new readers from the wait list for my book, Everything I Learned About Life I Learned on Vacation, The Explosive Profit Summit and the Entrepreneurs Toolkit Gift Giveaway.  Thank you for being here.

My book is slowly moving forward.  Who knew it was going to take longer in the review and edit cycle than the writing? I saw a proposed book cover –it took my breath away to see my name on the cover! Holy cow, that’s me!!  As I said, slowly moving forward!

If you’d like to share in the progress for Everything I Learned About Life I Learned on Vacation, including when pre-sales are open, you can sign-up for the wait list here.

May you have a blessed week and ‘til the next time.

Ciao,

Sheri