"How are you?": Do you really listen?
Sept 17, 2021 21:51:05 GMT -5
Valentian Elysium and Gonggong like this
Post by Liberdon on Sept 17, 2021 21:51:05 GMT -5
“How are you?” is a question I hear all too often every day. Lately, I’ve begun to see a pattern:
I pass someone in the hallway.
“How are you?”
“Good," I say. "How are you?”
“Good."
"That's good," I say, and we go our separate ways.
Good, good, good. The cycle repeats itself over and over again. Why is it that everyone uses the exact same response? Because they don’t expect anything else. People can tell when I am not listening. It shows in my body language and especially in my response. No one wants to open up to someone they believe does not care.
When I listen to what someone says and observe what someone does, my reply will show that I truly focused on and understood him, and our relationship will be much better for it. He will know that I care, and in the process, I may learn something about him that he was not comfortable expressing before. Today, with social media like Snapchat and Instagram emphasizing the importance of beauty and flawlessness and popularizing trends such as selfies, people are learning to focus more on themselves than others. One of the first basic tips about conversation is to always ask questions about the other person and to not talk about oneself. I think too many people are forgetting this, and in the process, we are losing the ability to understand one another, and without someone to truly listen to us, we become isolated in our problems. If more people would truly listen, I believe a lot of issues that plague society, such as loneliness and depression, could be overcome.
So, how are you? Be honest, take the poll, and share your thoughts on this universal question in the comments below!
