101 Ways to Move Forward After A Midlife Divorce

Tip #63. Practice active listening. A recovery from any life trauma, especially a trauma like midlife divorce throws off our communication skills. Our emotions often make our talking and listening exchanges challenging at best. Scary and embarrassing at worst. Today, in all of our conversations, let’s REALLY listen. Let’s try to listen at least twice as much as we talk. Let’s REALLY hear what the other person is trying to communicate. Practice active listening with your children, your friends and family, your co-workers and the random people you meet. Most people are so enthralled by what they have to say, they hardly listen at all. So today, this is a gift we can give to every single person we have a verbal exchange with. Be interested. Be focused on what they are saying instead of composing in our head what WE want to say next. Who would you rather have a conversation with? Someone who’s too busy to listen? Someone who’s just listening on the surface. Someone who’s distracted by his or her cell-phone while you are talking? Or someone who looks you in the eyes and actually wants to hear what your heart has to say. Let’s be that person who really listens today and see what a difference it makes.

Picture above from fost-adopt.adoptionblogs.com