Do you believe that listening is easy and requires little energy? Or that it is involuntary? Or it is the responsibility of the speaker to hold your attention?

These beliefs are a few of the fallacies that interfere with your ability to listen effectively to others and to reduce the amount of conflict and misunderstanding in your life. Often when there is conflict and misunderstanding, we are overly emotional and believe that a person needs to change. But sometimes, we are not hearing, understanding or responding to what the other person is actually communicating. Listening can reduce interpersonal problems that stem from lack of understanding, not remembering or misinterpretations.

In his book Listening Behaviors, Larry Barker suggests particular behaviors that will improve your ability to listen:

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