Daily Reading - Allen James' Daily Guide to Success/A Man's Daily Guide to Success

The reading for March 16th from "A Man's Daily Guide to Success" is, "REALLY listen to people".

Listening and hearing are two very different activities. Hearing someone speak to us simply means sound waves are entering our ears (outer ear...), passing through our eardrums (middle ear) and then being amplified through electrical impulses (inner ear) and sent to the brain to be processed into meaningful information.

Listening is far more complicated. Listening is the "ability to accurately receive messages in the communication process" (www.skillsyouneed.com). Communication is the sharing of meaning with the end result of UNDERSTANDING. Thus listening is vital to personal success as without UNDERSTANDING we fail to hit the mark.

Case in point, when I was around 12 I recall with rancor an event which had I been actively listening I would have bypassed what ended up to be a very uncomfortable situation. Granted, it's very difficult to "listen" when the small space in which I lived growing up is shared with 9 other "vocal" individuals.

My father was in the bathroom going through his daily routine of shaving (an event which usually found my sister admiring her father as he meticulously groomed his face till he once again was 1st Sergeant Sterling Sylvester Harryman.

Our side door wasn't always the easiest to close. One winter afternoon my oldest brother came in the door and pushed it to shut it. However, it didn't catch. My father yelled from the bathroom, "Shut the door". I, in my failure to "listen" and only "hearing" the sound of a voice, not realizing it was my father, instead thinking it was my brother, yelled back, "Shut it yourself".

Wrong answer. Had I been really listening, the outcome would not have been the knot which resulted on my noggin. Lesson learned.

Years later, in preparing for my role as psychotherapist it was much easier for me to take the lesson learned while implementing the important task of listening to what people are really saying when they talked to me.

UNDERSTANDING the messages we receive by really listening to what they are saying not only helps us, but also helps others as only when we understand can we assist in the best way possible.

REALLY listen to people. This shows others you are truly concerned about their needs.

Keep looking up. : ) AJ