If you really want to learn something, then learn the art of listening. Add this quality to your personality and become good at it, because this world needs more listeners.
Everyone wants to be a good speaker, and everyone talks about how important communication is. Maybe there’s nothing wrong with that. Though I don’t really know what you achieve by becoming a great speaker, because I’m not one. But I do know what happens when you learn to listen. You start learning about people. Their pain. Their emotions. Their beautiful, sometimes unspoken thoughts. Listening is the easiest and most honest way to know someone and understand them.
People will like you for it. They’ll feel comfortable around you. You’ll become someone they trust, because everyone wants to be heard and understood. Everyone wants a place where they can speak without fear or judgment.
But listeners aren’t made by simply deciding to listen. Most listeners become listeners because, at some point, when they tried to speak, no one listened to them. When they tried to share a piece of themselves, they were made to feel like they were too much, like there was no space for them. So they started shrinking themselves. Staying quiet. Holding back.
And because they know how painful that feels, they try to give others what they never received—space. Attention. Understanding. Believe me, this simple thing can make someone feel safe, and sometimes that’s enough to give them the courage to live and feel a little more freely.
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