Listening and Speaking

We should make a  good balance between listening and speaking. Sometimes, people who have dominant  personalaties don’t allow other members in the group to speak. On the other hand, those that are not participating vocally, are not ever fully engaged in the activity at hand. This is not effective communication either, as those that are not involved tend to loose focus. I am sure that all of you can relate to this.

If you are a good listener who does not take a strong vocal role,you can participate in other ways such as giving your opinion,ask questions,approve or disapprove the subject at hand.

However it is difficult to comment effectively if you have no interest to subject.

For example,in our meeting on november 26th our topic of conversation was about to have a new baby. We had a new mom in our group who obviously have some valuable insights. We asked her many questions about how deciding to have a  new baby changed her life with respect to her ralationship with her husband.

Unfortunately, I could not relate as I myself  have not  had the child yet. I tried to empathise with her and guess what kinds of questions I should ask her. I am sure that new mom might know what kind of questions qould be appropriate to ask however my lack of experience puts me at a disadvantage. I learned that being a mom is a difficult job and that motherly instincts are such a wonderful emotion.  This excercise  was a very different experience for me.