5 Active Listening
I actively listened three times to three different people. The first person I talked and listened to was my roommate, Meena. I also actively listened to my friend Kate. Another time I actively listened was at work while I was getting trained.
Meena- My roommate was telling me about a situation she was dealing with. Someone we both know asked her to borrow a dress, but she hasn’t spoken to this person in a while so she didn’t know how to respond. When I was listening I let her explain the whole story and asked questions about how she felt over the situation. She didn’t realize I was listening differently but she seemed less stressed after telling me and I understood all of her feelings. It was challenging to not give my opinion when she was telling me the information. I feel like this was a more beneficial way of having an important conversation for the both of us.
Kate- My longtime friend Kate was feeling a lot of stress since she was overbooking herself with plans and such. She just felt overwhelmed and I let her talk about it while I tried to validate her feelings. While listening I gave her a lot of eye contact and head nods and only paid attention to her. She did not mention anything about noticing I was listening differently but our conversation was very productive.
My boss- I’m currently getting trained for a new job so I have to actively listen throughout the entire shift. My boss, Ava was teaching me how to steam milk so I made sure she could tell I was listening and learning. Actively listening is expected when you are being trained so it was nothing to note. This shift felt very productive and I learned a lot by using my active listening tools. I also feel like Ava felt like she was teaching me in an efficient way.