Listening

Hearing someone out is an expression of caring enough to listen.

Michael P Nichols, The Lost Art of Listening

This quote reflects back the idea that hearing and listening are two separate things. For example, if somebody is telling us of a situation, do we listen to the end, or do we quickly start to interrupt, possibly giving advice, or talking about a similar experience that we have had. If so, we are not fully engaged in listening. We may well be asked for advice at some point in the interaction, but to give it unasked shows we still have a lot to learn about listening as opposed to hearing.

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