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LISTENING WITH UNDERSTANDING AND EMPATHY

Listening to others with understanding and empathy is not only a valuable skill in problem solving, but an overall life activity which will facilitate getting along with others. Try to be more attentive to what others say to you. Can you paraphrase what someone just said to you? Can you determine their feelings from what they are saying? Can you share these feelings? When you listen to someone, look at him or her, nod occassionally, don't interrupt (remember to limit your impulsivity and do not break in while they are speaking). Pay careful attention to the ideas that a person is expressing. Can you use these ideas? Can they relate to other's ideas? Try repeating a person's last or main ideas when there is a pause in the conversation saying such things as "so you feel that..." Listening is very important and can yield valuable information in solving problems and working well with others.

Here is a puzzle to see if you are really listening to everything being said. Repsond to the following as if it were dialogue: "What is the longest and yet the shortest thing in the world; the swiftest and the slowest; the most divisible and the most extended; the least valued and the most regretted; without which nothing can be done; which devours everything, however small, and yet gives life and spirit to all things, however great?"