Do you hear or do you listen?
Tall and majestic with the most spectacular horns, the kudu bull is considered one of Africa's most handsome species. Since sound does not travel easily through dense mediums, the kudus have huge ears to help them to detect even the smallest of noises in the thickets where they live. When listening, the kudus focus their ears on the direction of the noise and will then move away quietly or dash off after giving a loud, sharp alarm bark. They have mastered the skill of listening to survive!
As humans we are born to hear and need to learn to listen, listening is a learned skill. Hearing is through the ears, but listening is through the mind.” Are you a good listener or do you only hear what others are saying? Being listened to and heard is one of the greatest desires of the human heart. The most basic and powerful way to connect to another person is to listen to him/her. The art of listening is the cornerstone of communication and the builder of trust. “Everything changes when you know you’re being listened to.”
Listening means hearing and understanding with an open mind what is being said without formulating answers of interrupting. People who know little say much, people who know much say little. Many of us don’t listen as well as we should, and we never listen when we are eager to speak. Listening is a magnetic and strange thing, a creative force. The friends who listen to us, are the ones we move toward. When we are listened to, it creates us, makes us unfold and expand. The first law of love is to listen. As an anonymous poet once expressed, "to be listened to is to feel that your joys are being doubled and your sorrows are being halved."
Always listen intently like the kudu because the beginning of wisdom is silence, the second stage of listening. To appear wise, one must talk; to be wise, one must listen. Be a good listener because unlike your mouth, your ears will never get you into trouble. One of the sincerest forms of respect is actually listening to what another has to say. – Bryant M McGill
Go to a quiet place in your garden or in the bush, listen to the wonderful calls of the birds and nature and remember the old African proverb: Much silence makes a powerful noise. “See how nature - trees, flowers, grass - grows in silence; see the stars, the moon and the sun, how they move in silence, we need silence to be able to touch souls.” - Mother Theresa
Great talkers are never great doers! – Sesotho Proverb
Lanette is an educational expert. She has vast experience in training of teachers, lecturing, educational support, mentoring and motivational workshops. She currently specialising in job profiling, selection, personal development, career assessments and project management. She has administrated 100’s of NBI brain profiles for the purpose of personal development and career choices (vocational guidance.) As CEO of her own companies, she managed staff and has always been passionate about their personal and career development. Currently, she is an accredited job seeker profiling and selection expert using the SkillsPassport automated platform to assist clients with their bulk/volume recruitment needs with specific emphasis on learnerships and internships.
Achievements of recognition include:
The ROCCI Businesswoman of the year in 2010, 2011, 2014, 2015 and 2018/19.
She was awarded the 2017 Business of the Year Lifetime Achievement Award in Community Service.
