The Real Art of Listening

By Eric Hanna, S. J.

It’s a cliché that people don’t listen. But when an individual says, “People don’t listen!”, s/he is almost invariably complaining that people don’t listen to me.

I’ve had a lot of teachers, some good and some bad. Many have taught very reasonably what they call “listening skills”. Which amounted basically to: shut up, pay attention, and write stuff down. Mildly helpful. But almost useless if the person practising the tips is not naturally good at listening or if the speaker is a poor communicator.

Let us consider this issue from the perspective of a touching story. Another cliché, really.