“What if you disagree with them? Or if you don’t like them or what they’re saying or thinking or doing?”
Just wrapped up another training for new #Samaritans volunteers for my branch.
One key tenet of being an Active Listener is that we stay out of judgement.
It’s not easy for there are many reasons for people to be angry at the world.
Injustice.
Racism.
Xenophobia.
Homophobia.
… This list could go on.
Add layers of complexity that worldview and mental models bring to relationships, and we create an environment that is loaded with tension.
#ActiveListening requires that one party set aside judgement to start listening.
It’s the first step towards understanding.
And towards #Empathy.
I learned this when I started my own Samaritans journey 14 years ago.
What surprised me was how I started listening to myself too!
By laying down judgement, I learned about
– Why something triggered me
– How deeply I felt about some topics
– How to ask myself hard questions and how to listen to the hard answers that came back.
This resulted in me learning how to #BeKind to myself and to others.
And how this made me the awesome project manager that everyone knows and loves! 😁
(One who isn’t very modest!) 🤭
Creating deep connections begin with empathy, and that requires putting aside judgement.
Have you ever tried this?
What’s been your experience?
