Often the concept of active listening is thrown around a lot because we recognize that listening is important.

However, true listening goes beyond active listening to empathetic listening. Also the differences may seem small, in fact listening from the place of empathy shifts the exchange of communication from speaker and listener to connection and understanding.

In this episode, we blast through what is known about active listening, and go into detail about how to become a more empathetic listener, as listed below.

If you would like to know more about how to become a more empathetic listener, send me a DM on LinkedIn:

www.linkedin.com/in/sarahkhan-org/

Forever grateful,

The Depressed Mom Boss

To become an empathetic listener, you will need the following.

1. Know your intention. The intention is not to listen but to connect.

2. You need to stop multitasking and focus on the one thing– the speaker.

3. Pay attention to body language. Empathetic listening is a whole body experience which can actually prove intention.

4. Be non-judgmental. There is no place for outcomes, assessments or evaluations with empathetic listening. Just create the space for the speaker to share.

5. Be patient because empathy and patience are in the exact same sphere, so to be an empathetic listener, you need to be a patient person that is fully present.

6. Honour the awkward silence. Tolerate it because silence is trust.

7. Stop paraphrasing because it usually isn’t for the benefit of the speaker, but for our own benefit for US to process the information.

8. Don’t make it about you. Empathetic listening isn’t about you. It’s about them.

In this episode, we chat about how the simple phrase, Be Good", became the basis of the insecurities of rejection and how that followed me into entrepreneurship.

We touch on RSD, Rejection Sensitivity Dysphoria, which in itself isn't a disorder, but a cluster of symptoms sometimes associated with mental health and ADHD, and how kindness can impact that feeling of rejection.

If you would like to learn more about how your narratives can be affected by kindness as your lens, please send me a DM on linked in, Sarah Khan | LinkedIn

www.linkedin.com/in/sarahkhan-org/

Diversity is a huge subject and it is as much about finding our similarities as it is celebrating our differences.

However, what is not spoken of a lot, are the constraints that sometimes exist coming from a different culture, and it's not always because of the new culture that we have moved into, but the one that we have come from.

In this episode of Confronting, I share a talk I had given to a network of budding, female entrepreneurs that were immigrants about the importance of mental health on overall wellbeing.

If you would like to chat more about some of the challenges that you experience, and the narratives that you have as it relates to coming from another culture, send me a message on my LinkedIn to book a complimentary 30-minute call.