<i></i> <i></i> <i></i> -1<p><img src="https://relationshipgoals.me/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/c-users-mahad-downloads-18-12-3490-jpg.jpeg"/></p> <img src="https://relationshipgoals.me/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/word-image-751.jpeg"/>via shutterstock <p>One of the major five senses that help us communicate is the ability to hear. If you are not hearing impaired, you probably cannot even imagine what it must be like to not hear anything. A research has suggested that on average, a person hears around 20,000 to 30,000 words; and that is only in a single day! Multiply it by the number days in a week and you would be amazed at how large a vocabulary you are exposed to in a mere 7 days! In all the ways you communicate, hearing makes up 55% of it.</p> <p>That means more than half of how you communicate with other people is based on what and how you hear.</p> <img src="https://relationshipgoals.me/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/word-image-752.jpeg"/>via shutterstock <p>And that is where the ability of listening comes in. As is explained by the University Of Minnesota Duluth, hearing is defined as simply the act of perceiving sound by the ear. This means that if you are not a hearing-impaired person, hearing is simply what happens naturally.</p> <p>On the other hand, listening, however, is something in which you get involved consciously and that which you choose to do. Listening requires you to concentrate on what is being said so that your brain processes meaning from the words and sentences you hear. Listening normally leads to learning.</p> <p>For example, if you are on the phone with someone and there is distortion in the line, you say ‘Can you hear me?’ but when you think their mind is elsewhere while you are talking to them, you say ‘Are you listening to me?’ This is a simple example to understand the difference between these terms.</p> <p>However, in a world where everyone seems to be pressed for time, more people just hear what is being said rather than actually listening to it. So who do you think you are? Someone who only hears, or a listener?</p> <p>Let us explore this further by delving into the main differences between hearing and listening and then you can better decide which category you belong to!</p> <h2>5. Your whole body is involved</h2> <img src="https://relationshipgoals.me/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/word-image-753.jpeg"/>via shutterstock <p>When you actively listen to someone not only your ears but your whole body gets involved in the process. Your brain is attentive to the words it is hearing and is making and effort into processing them into meaningful conversation. You make eye contact with the person and nod your head at appropriate points.</p> <p>Your face reacts to the words it hears and responds according to them. It becomes natural that your eyes widen when hear something of concern and your lips smile when you hear something pleasing.</p> <p>On the other hand, if you are only hearing, your body would not react to the words it is hearing and your eyes would also have a dreamy, wistful expression.</p> <h2>4. You question appropriately</h2> <img src="https://relationshipgoals.me/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/word-image-754.jpeg"/>via shutterstock <p>When you listen to what is being said you generally ask questions as your mind becomes interested in the conversation and actively seeks to gain more knowledge about the subject. Your curiosity kicks in and you cannot restrain yourself from being inquisitive.</p> <p>When you only hear what is being said, your mind does not process the words deeply and thus you do not get interested enough to learn more about the subject. So, do you think that you are able to question appropriately after listening to the speaker?</p> <h2>3. Sharing information</h2> <img src="https://relationshipgoals.me/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/word-image-755.jpeg"/>via shutterstock <p>An important part of listening and having a meaningful conversation both ways is to take part in it. Apart from the two points above, another way you can do so is to share information related to the topic being discussed. If the other person is talking about their college days and its sports team, you can take part by telling about your college and the activities it offered.</p> <p>If a person is talking about their night at a famous bar, and you haven’t been there, you can take part by sharing your experiences of the bars you have visited and how they compare to the one the speaker is talking about. The goal is to take the conversation forward in a way that adds value to the subject being discussed. So, do you usually only hear things or listen and add in your share too?</p> <h2>2. Pauses are important</h2> <img src="https://relationshipgoals.me/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/word-image-756.jpeg"/>via shutterstock <p>It is not only the words that you need to pay attention to. Pauses play a major role in a conversation. They are a natural part of speech and their value is often underrated. As Mark Twain has said about them: “The pause – that impressive silence, that eloquent silence, that geometrically progressive silence which often achieves a desired effect where no combination of words, howsoever felicitous, could accomplish it.”</p> <p>When you listen to a person talking, at times you can predict at what point they are going to pause, to collect their thoughts and then maybe go on further discussing the topic. Paying attention to the pauses in between sentences is important as it might be an invitation for you to put a word in or take over the subject being discussed. When you are only hearing superficially, you are unable to identify the pauses and thus are incapable of filling in the gaps with your own wisdom.</p> <p>Can you identify whether you possess the skills of a listener?</p> <h2>1. Removing emotional filters</h2> <img src="https://relationshipgoals.me/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/word-image-757.jpeg"/>via shutterstock <p>An emotional filter is when you mentally turn off the bad parts of the conversation or that what you don’t want to hear so that it doesn’t penetrate into your mind fully. When you hear something that you especially wanted to, you become all ears and begin accepting everything whether it might be true or not. When you are trying to listen effectively, it is important that you remove your emotional filters so that all that the speaker is saying is perceived by you on an equal footing. All words are given the same weight and all are processed equally by your mind.</p> <p>On the other hand, when you are only hearing, instead of actively listening, you carry the weight of your emotions into the conversation and your mind perceives what it wants to. You do not delve into the depth of what the person is saying and your brain remembers only what it wanted to hear and discards the rest of the conversation.</p> <p>Therefore it is important to remove any emotional filters that you may have regarding the person or the subject and attempt to listen to what the person is saying and accept it before forming your own opinions.</p> <p>So, according to the five differences and courses of action detailed above, are you only a hearer or a listener?</p> <i></i>