My question to you as a professional mental health therapist is what is your ability to hear him or her or others that are different or appear to be different from you? Can you hear the cry out for help regardless?
As a professional mental health therapist my question to you is what is your ability to listen to him or her or others that are different or appear to be different from you? Can you hear the cry out for help regardless?
Should or do these questions have anything in common for you to be able to understand or acknowledge the importance of both questions? Could it be that the ability to hear is natural or something that some of us are born with innately or not. On the other hand, could it be that the ability to listen is something we need to develop and know how to practice over time.
Developing skills to listen more effectively may require for us to listen in more aggressive ways than before. The ability to listen effectively may require us to accept a change of how we listen; more effectively. Are you ready for this change in you? Are you ready to effectively listen or not?
According to Psychology Today, research shows that only about 10 percent of us listen effectively. We are so distracted by the cacophony of dings and tweets from our smartphones, not to mention our ever growing to do lists, that we struggle to focus and listen when people talk to us. If we’re not distracted by technology, our own thoughts can keep us from listening to another person. We often think that we are listening but we’re actually just considering how to jump in to tell our own story, offer advice, or even make a judgment. In other words, we are not listening to understand, but rather to reply.
Does the above aforementioned sound like you, reflect you, or remind you of you. When someone comes to you do you hear or listen? Think about your unique role in helping. As a mental health professional therapist, I can help you to navigate your part in moving forward in a more positive, healthy, and helpful way. Moving forward, I ask you, what is your means of hearing and what is your means of listening?
Reference: Psychology Today © 2021 Sussex Publishers, LLC, Hearing and being heard. Eglantine Julle-Daniere
