Eng 223 - Mindful Listening Skills - How to Be Mindful in Listening and the Communication Process?

Mindful Listening Skills

Ron Gibson

ENG223D-ON-CommunicationArts

Stevens- Henager College

Dani Liese, Instructor

October 13th, 2010

How to Be Mindful in Listening and the Communication Process

Being mindful when listening to someone who is speaking to you is not always a natural and automatic action. Good communicators will make a conscious decision to give the speaker their full attention. This can be achieved in a combination of techniques including: engaging body language, vocal response, control of environmental noise and distractions. Controlling, to the best of your ability, internal and external obstacles will also contribute to success. Good communication skills impact relationships, careers, and peace of mind.

Making a conscious decision to be mindful is the first step in being a successful listener (Wood, 2010). You want to let the person who is talking to you know that you are interested in what they are saying. If you do not make a decision to do so you will be easily distracted and will send a message that you are not interested in what they have to say. Looking at your cell phone, not making eye contact, not asking questions, and doing anything other than giving your full attention are examples of a non-mindful listener.

Engaging body language is another skill that does not always come naturally. Most of the time, those with poor body language are unaware of the signals they are sending. A few examples of poor body language would be slouching in your chair, tapping your toe or a pencil, or simply having a blank expression on your face. An effective communicator will engage in the conversation by sitting or standing with a sense of passion, or fascination, by leaning in toward the speaker as if you are ready to receive what they have to say. Slouching, leaning against the wall, resting your head in your hand, and portraying a slack posture tells the speaker that you are bored.

Vocal response also contributes to the successfulness of the communication efforts (Wood, 2010). It can include words of empathy, agreement, expressions of emotion or even vocalic sounds. Responding to speakers vocally, both during and at the end of the conversation, lets them know that they have your full attention. Not responding vocally is yet another trigger to let the speaker know that you are not interested in engaging in the conversation.

At times you may be in a conversation with someone, and be interested in the conversation, but because of distractions you may appear to the other person that you are not interested. Environmental noise influences distractions. No matter how hard you may try to ignore