The Father's Day Gift to Give and to Receive

What can we learn about how to listen that will transform the quality of our lives and relationships? 

Whether you are a father, a son, a grandfather, a grandson, an uncle, a nephew, a mentor, a mentee, a friend or just a human looking to enhance all of your relationships, learning how to listen is transformational.  

The international listening association has published a fact stating 75% of the time that we think we are listening, we are actually distracted. When we are not listening at this level, we may be preoccupied with other thoughts or unable to remember what has been said.  

When you are fully listened to by another human being you feel heard, valued and appreciated.  When we "listen like we want to be heard," our relationships blossom.

How can we listen at this level? The following are the most important steps:

1. Hear accurately and with ease. When you are hearing well, you are not second guessing what you thought you heard or taking longer to process because you missed one or two speech sounds. When you are hearing well, you are able to hear with confidence and ease and remember what you have heard. Memory is closely tied to hearing loss.
   
2. Give your full attention to the speaker. Remove all distractions from your environment and your mind. You may have to turn off distractions and move closer to the speaker.
   
3. Listen without judgement. Listen fully without planning on what you will say next.
   
4. Stop talking. The speaker feels valued when you don't interrupt or interject your opinion or give advice. Give advice only if asked. 
   
5. Thank the speaker for sharing with you in the way that you feel most comfortable, a warm smile, a thank you, a hug or an acknowledgement!
   

Because hearing is number one on our agenda, it is important that you begin with having your hearing checked. If you have any type of hearing loss, it’s better to get treatment sooner than later. If you are wearing hearing aids, make sure you are being seen by a Doctor of Audiology twice a year to ensure your hearing aids are clean and in working order. The first step to quality listening is hearing! 

What better Father’s Day gift is there than the gift of hearing and better listening?

Post Covid Summer Tune Up: If you have hearing aids and are not happy or are wondering if you could be hearing better, we are here to help you! The Doctors of Audiology and Audiology Assistants at the Hearing Solution have the equipment and ability to improve the quality of your hearing with reprogramming, repairs, replacement of parts, cleaning and education. 

Call (916) 646-2471 or send us a message on our contact page.