Do you listen correctly, carefully, adequately, intelligently, unassumingly, quietly and effectively? If you want to be a good listener you have to cultivate the habit of effective listening.

Those who are good at communication know the importance of listening, which is perhaps more important than even speaking.

It is not an exaggeration to say that relationships thrive more on listening skills than on speaking skills. A good speaker may sometimes find himself unwanted in a group, but rarely a good listener.

The following suggestions may help you improve your listening skills:

1. To make listening a regular habit you must start from somewhere. Start from today and for a few days from now on wards, allot at least one hour solely and wholly to listening only.

During this one hour do nothing but listen, with all your attention and concentration. Listen to the sounds and the words as they come to you in their unadulterated state.

Listen without the intervention of any thoughts, without any disturbance in your mind. Enjoy the purity, the beauty and the magic of the sounds.

Concentrate on one sound, or many sounds or on all sounds that come to you at a time. Listen to them in the context of the background in which they arise.

Listen to the distant sounds that are almost inaudible but only by effort can be heard. Listen to the faintest of the sounds such as the ticking of a watch, the movement of the wind, the rustling of the grass or your own breathing. At the end of this exercise listening should have become an integral part of your nature.

2. Try to replay in your mind the various sounds that you hear every day. Try to recreate a particular piece of music or song that appeals to you. Try to recreate mentally the sounds of nature.

Can you recollect the various sounds exactly? Can you recollect various sounds simultaneously? Can you play an entire orchestra mentally in your mind ? Keep practicing till you can say, "Yes" to these questions confidently.

3. A mind that is fully relaxed, alert and free from all cares and worries is most conducive to effective listening. If you want to allow the words of others to enter your mind freely, you must cultivate a free and undisturbed mind and an unassuming personality.

Pay more attention to others, their thoughts and words than to yourself and to your own thoughts and words as you listen.

It is in our eagerness to impress and communicate our thoughts to others that we tend to forget the true act of listening effectively. To become a good listener you must learn to keep yourself in the background. It is through humility we can reach out to the worlds of others.   (more)