Listen Up or Lose Out

21

The Listening Spirit

If it is simply a reflection, that’s no good. That’s just a technique. It must be a desire to understand empathetically to stand in the other person’s shoes and to see the world from his vantage point.

—CARL ROGERS

SO FAR, WE’VE talked primarily about the skills of listening. But one of the dangers people are likely to run into when improving their listening is becoming so focused on the skills that their listening becomes rather mechanical. Important as these skills are, their effectiveness depends on something deeper. ...