subject: Changing Lives With Empathic Listening [print this page] What does it mean to really listen? Although its something that most people do on a daily basis, its not an act that many can do very well. Listening really is more than just hearing the words that other people speak. In fact, while empathy may to some extent be a natural ability, to listen empathically is a skill that everyone of us, whatever our current level of proficiency, can cultivate and refine. Being an empathic listener is similar to being an effective speaker. And while most people know how to talk, only few are able to communicate to others. Similarly, a lot of people hear, but only those who take the time and effort to master the skill of empathic listening are able to really hear what is being said.
What is Empathic Listening?
Empathic listening is being able to process what the other person is saying and responding accordingly in a manner that will be able to inspire and enlighten the speaker. It is more than just nodding every once in a while or responding with one-word answers to what someone might be saying. To listen empathically is to:
Relate to what the other person is saying
Know how to put ones self in the shoes of the other
View the situation from the other persons point of view
Experience events from a personal and from an outsiders perspective
Learning Empathic Listening
Before a person can become an empathic listener, an individual must first learn and master how to silence his or her own thoughts to be able to focus on the other. This might sound like a simple task, but its actually quite difficult to achieve. For this reason, there are many personal transformation facilitators and coaches who conduct seminars and workshops to help individuals learn how to do this. In the process of learning empathic listening, participants are able to know their own selves better, become better individuals, and achieve self-actualization.
Helping Others with Empathic Listening
The act of speaking helps an individual cope with stressful situations because it provides relief to be able to share such heavy matters with another person. But such act is only one of the actions in the process of communication. In order for the process to be complete, the message, thought, or information that one person is sharing must be received, processed, and responded to accordingly by the listener. This is why effective communication is such an important process, as it is a skill that can be used to help alleviate people from the pain, confusion, and anxiety of their current situations.
Service through Empathic Listening
Empathic listening isnt just for personal conversations or relationships either. It can also be used and applied in business dealings, meetings, and with almost all other interactions that involve other people. The goal of empathic listening is to:
Foster a culture of trust among individuals
Enforce self-actualization and self-realization to help people become better versions of themselves
Aid people in building better and stronger relationships with one another
Create an environment of healing, understanding, and compassion
Empathic listening can enable those who have mastered it to change the lives of other people, simply by lending an ear and knowing when to speak or when to keep silent.
