Listening is the process when you give attention to a sound. When one makes a process to hear something, it means he or she is making an effort to listen. When you listen to something, you must be all ears and stay focussed to understand whatever you were hearing. One must be a patient listener. Listening to someone with patience and concentration is not somebody’s cup of tea. Active listening is a means of communication to understand, interpret and evaluate what he or she hears. Active listening helps in fostering understanding, reducing conflicts and strengthening cooperation.
According to C.S. Lewis, “A man who is eating or lying with his wife or preparing to go to sleep in humility, thankfulness and temperance, is, by Christian standards, in an infinitely higher state than one who is listening to Bach or reading Plato in a state of pride.” When people interact with each other, they do not listen attentively and seriously. Thus, they miss out on the major aspects and highlights of a conversation.
