Hearing and Listening

Hearing is something that we do every second of our lives because hearing happens when sound waves hit our ear drums and the sound is amplified and transmitted to the brain through the nerves. So we hear every sound in the environment that we are in but the thing is we do not listen to every single sound brought to our ears. This is because we listen to things that interests us only and try to interpret those sounds for our own understanding.

This being the case , it is very vital for us to ask ourselves wether we are listening or just hearing when we are involved in a conversation because this determines our relationship with the other. If the other finds out that we are not listnening to what they are saying than this can affect our relationship very badly. Besides, when we listen to the other who is speaking it shows that we respect the person.

Listening is especially important when someone is pouring their heart out to us. This is a scenario where we really have to listen with empathy because it involves the feelings of a person. My friend once told me about her cousin who was going under depression. This cousin which I will be referring to as X was a very bright student but then suddenly she was unable to concentrate and perform in her studies. When X’s results dropped her parents got worried but X would not tell her parents the problem that she was having because to her she felt that all these years her parents were only interested in hearing about her grades and other than that they never really spoke to her empathatically. So X thought that they would not be able to understand her problem now because they never really paid attention to her when she was speaking before.

This clearly shows that due to lack of listening on X’s parents side earlier made X to loose her trust on her parents that they will never understand her. Hence, I learnt that people(including me) should always listen empathatically when someone is speaking to us. We should also observe their nonverbal messages and give feedback to the speaker through our verbal or nonverbal cues. Lastly, we should always strive to improve our listening skills as they are part and parcel of our everyday lives.

Posted by : A.Padmassini A/P V.Anand