Honor – What It Is and What It’s Not – Part Two of Five

Last time we talked about the importance of body language and that 93% of all communication is non verbal.  It’s so important to maintain eye contact and hold a genuine posture of caring about the other individual.

Today we are going to talk about listening.

First of all, listening is not waiting for your chance to jump into the conversation when there is a pause.  Merriam/Webster defines it as – to pay attention to someone or something in order to hear what is being said, sung, played, etc.  Did you get that?  Pay Attention!  Don’t be thinking about what you are going to say next.  Truly pay attention to what someone is saying in order to truly understand what it is they are trying to tell you.

Spouses are often guilty of not listening to each other, especially husbands.  Not me of course.  I’m sorry babe, what did you say?  Contrary to what you may think guys, you really cannot multi-task.  You may be able to manage several things at once, but that is not multi-tasking.

To tie listening together with the body language from last time, I will leave you with something we tell the Lil’ Dragons at  our karate school.  1) Listen with your ears (hear), 2) Listen with your eyes (look at them), 3) Listen with your mouth (shut-up) and 4) Listen with your whole body (be still with open arms).

So, the next time you are listening to someone, show them honor by paying attention with everything you have.  You just might learn something.