HOW TO BE THE PERFECT LISTENER

                            Friendship is the most important thing, the world has ever experienced. Yes without friendship, the existence of several parts of the world would have remained concealed, and most would go extinct.

Friendship led to effective communication and the urge to relate to the rest of humankind, which has led to the world being “a small village”… a global village. Just amongst individuals, little friendship arises to great friendship. It is very important for one to value the real essence of this beautiful gift nature has blessed us with.
It is also essential to know that friendship is a two way thing…”reciprocating” being the master-minder of every successful friendship.
Another is “listening”, which is the most neglected of all.
Listening is very important to take friendship to another level. Just imagine a relationship whereby your friend remembers every little detail about you that you might have mentioned in your discussions, intentionally or not. It would be quite so magical, that one could call the friend a mind reader.
Being a listener is quite simple. You could be the best friend you have ever dreamt to be or you could possibly be the boyfriend someone has been praying to have… Imagine being an answer to someone’s prayer.
Trying these steps below could make you someone’s miracle.
Listen to your friend very attentively without interruption.
Just let the conversation flow from your friend’s heart. It makes your friend feel important and raises his/her self-esteem too.
Pause for a while before replying him/her. Pausing helps you know if your friend is done talking or just had a break. It also allows you to understand more of what your friend means. Pausing is more like an opportunity to drink and digest your friend’s words. This makes your friend feel important as he/she would be eager to hear you talk.
Ask necessary questions to be sure. Do not assume that you already know what your friend meant by what they said. Instead ask questions like;
“How do you mean exactly?”
“I don’t get”
“How do you feel about that?”
“Then what did you do?”
Asking questions keeps you in charge of the situation.
Give your friend a feedback using your own words and at the same time be polite.
Now this is called the acid test of listening
Be very sincere to your friend. It develops trust.
Be very real to your friend. Your friend will know when you bare saying empty words; when your appreciation, approval, admiration or attention, is false. You know, when you are faking it.
If you don’t believe what you are saying, don’t expect others to believe you.
According to Albert Mehrabian of UCLA, a conversation contains three elements:
Body language-------55% of the message
Tone of voice--------38%
The words themselves---7%
So if you are faking it, your body language and tone will give you away no matter what you say.
ARE YOU A GOOD LISTENER? If no, then try these steps out, and you won’t regret trying,
GOOD LUCK
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