Three Essential Qualities That Guarantees Success in Relationships

Every conversation provides you with an opportunity to use communication as a tool in promoting happiness and success in your life. Having emotional intelligence as a toolbox filled with essential instruments to use in building successful relationships means that you always need to keep your tools sharp and ready for use. Those who are skilled in utilizing communication as a tool in developing healthy personal and professional alliances will find that they will experience success more quickly as they build meaningful relationships.

There is no doubt that everyone wants the opportunity to tell their story when given the opportunity to talk to someone who is a good listener. As a good listener, you have the chance to help others to develop their ability to identify, understand, use and manage their emotions in a positive manner. You have the opportunity to attract people to you because of your ability to relate well to others. Listening to people as they tell their story enables you to enhance your communication skills. As you engage in three distinct qualities that improve your listening skills, your ability to listen with empathy, openness and awareness will improve your personal and professional relationships.

Empathy

You can develop quality relationships with deeper connections with others when you can imagine being in the shoes of the other person as they tell their story. As you pay attention to their tale, you should imagine feeling what they felt inside. The key to listening with empathy is to stay away from concentrating on how you would have felt or behaved had you been in the same or similar situation.

Openness

Being open to listening to others without judgment or finding fault with the other person is an essential quality of listening that will attract people to you. Most people hate to speak to closed-minded individuals who only hear part of an individual’s message because they block key points that contradict their personal values. The difficulty found in listening to stories that conflict with personal thoughts, feelings, and beliefs is the reason that it takes practice becoming an open-minded listener. Listening with openness requires for you to take on the role of a scientist who understands that your current opinions are current theories that are subject to change as new information becomes available. By maintaining an inquisitive nature while listening to the speaker, you will be in a position to remain open to what you hear.

Awareness

Having an awareness as to when it is appropriate to use sound judgment to examine people or things for similarities is also an essential quality of listening. Your awareness of when to relate your knowledge of known facts about history, people, and life to what you are hearing is critical to keeping you focused on the details of the discussion. Awareness of the facts as it relates to the discussion helps for you to remain mindful of whether what the discussion matches up with the individual’s behavior. Having an awareness to assess important details and facts as it pertains to the discussion also requires an attentiveness to non-verbal communication such as body language and vocal tone. This level of awareness provides you with a deeper level of understanding the other person.

With the use of these three qualities of listening, you can participate in building meaningful personal and professional relationships that can promote the success that you desire. Your romantic relationships will grow in depth as you connect with your partner on a deeper level. Managers and coworkers on your job will know that they can come to you with important issues because of your ability to be empathetic, open-minded, and aware of the need to use sound judgment in relating to others. Your ability to empathize with others can help you to create significant personal and professional connections that attract others to you as you continue to evolve in listening to thoughts and beliefs that differ from your own. Your increasing level of awareness allows for you to appreciate and bond with others more easily. Overall, you will sharpen an essential tool in your toolbox of emotional intelligence that will help you to enhance your communication skills, relieve your stress, overcome challenges, and diffuse any conflicts that may arise.

For more information on how key aspects to evaluating relationships check out, Daring You To Be YOU!: Evaluating Relationships.