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Listening

“Listening is our access to understanding. Conscious listening always creates understanding.”

— Julian Treasure, 5 ways to listen better (TED)

Tips to improve listening:

  1. Get three minutes a day of silence (or the quietest you can find)
  2. In a noisy environment, try to pick out how many distinct “channels” of sound you can hear.
  3. Savour a mundane sound. Take something like a coffee maker or a fan and appreciate that sound for a while.
  4. Adjust “listening positions”. Move between active and passive, reductive and expansive, critical and empathetic.
  5. RASA: Receive, Appreciate, Summarize, Ask. “Rasa” is the Sanskrit word for “juice” or “essence”. Take in the information, offer a sign that you have taken in what someone else has said, summarize it in your own words, then follow up with something.