Listening skills

“One of the benchmarks of great communicators is their ability to listen — not just to what’s being said, but to what’s not being said as well. They listen between the lines.” ~ Laurie Buchanan, author

I’ve always been interested in how communication works — or doesn’t work — in our daily lives. Good listening skills are as essential to healthy relationships as good talk. Thankfully, I’m married to a guy who’s an outstanding, empathetic listener. (That’s him in the background of the photo above.) More often than not, however, I notice that other people are so focused on what they want to say next that they aren’t really listening to others.

As today’s quote points out, listening between the lines — for “what’s not being said” — is an important listening skill. To acquire it, we have to practice paying attention. Is someone telling us the whole truth, or simply what they think we want to hear? What’s been left out? ~CL

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