Listening Reflection
What listening skills do you appreciate in others? Give an example of a time when someone really listened to you. How did that affect you?
Among the listening skills, I appreciate in others is showing that one is listening. It feels good when someone listens to you and shows that they are listening. When people listen to me and use their body language and gestures to indicate they are engaged like occasionally nodding, smiling, and other facial expressions and demonstrating a posture that is open and interested, I feel I am really saying something. I also like it when one pays attention to what I am saying by looking at6 me directly and eliminate distraction thoughts.
An excellent example of a time when someone listened to me is when I was explaining a math concept to my little brother. He listened attentively, looked at me directly, and I couldn’t anything distracting him or his thoughts. There were many distractions, but he wasn’t carried away. He could communicate with facial expressions. This affected me by getting the urge to explain more and gave me the confidence that I am helping him. Since then, I always get it easy to engage in a discussion at school with confidence, and I like it when my friends are listening, as I explain.
Identify one of your listening strengths. How did this area become a strength? Give examples of how it helps you.
My listening strengths include listening to other people as we talk as I want them to listen to me. Another strength which mostly related is listening to other people’s opinions before I share mine, especially when discussing something. They became strengths because listening first gives me time to hear others’ perspectives, think about my point, and put into becoming stronger and engaged in the conversation. For example, listening first before I share my view helps me overcome the embarrassment of raising a vague and irrelevant point and avoiding interrupting others as they speak since it doesn’t sound good. As Elaine Sylvester (2016) argues in “Listening First,”- when one listens, others’ experiences inform you and that we have to be active participants.
Identify an aspect of listening in which you wish to grow. Give an example of a time when you didn’t listen well due to insufficient skills in this particular area.
The area I want to grow is avoiding distractions. Listening First (2018) states that the current main distraction is our phones, which can affect our present. For example, there was a time I was listening to the motivational talk, and I missed the point due to a message pop-up, and when the speaker asked a general question, I couldn’t comprehend.
Identify and explain a concrete step you plan to take to improve your listening.
The concrete step I will take is ensuring that I keep my phone away or in silent mode and keep reminding myself of distraction.