Hearing. Listening. Two different things, yet a lot of times, people think they are the same thing. I would even hazard a guess that most of us are really bad at the latter. Sure, we hear when things are said or that people are saying something, but most of the time, we don’t actually take away the proper meaning of what we heard. Or even realize that something important was being said because we just heard something and didn’t actually comprehend it.

That is where listening comes in. Listening entails actually comprehending what someone says and really getting the meaning of it. I must admit, I’ve not been a very good listener of late. Generally, I think I am a pretty good at listening, but  I am starting to realize I haven’t been as good at it as I should be.

I hear people talking and apparently just choose to ignore what people are saying. Mainly in a vain attempt to get people to do something or help with something. And in a growing moment, I’ve come to realize that it just isn’t meant to be. I should listen to folks more. Especially when they are saying they don’t want to be bothered. It is definitely an annoying life lesson to learn, but a necessary one.

The good thing about learning that lesson is that you start to find out who you can count on and who you should really focus your time on. Sure, you could try to continue to get those people to listen when you ask for help, but eventually you realize they don’t want to give it so why waste time when you could be assisting others. Of course it works in reverse as well because we should try to listen when others are asking things of us. But then again, we all could use some practice in listening instead of just hearing things.