Active Reading and active listening....

Active Reading is similar to active listening.

We spend 10% of our  total communication time  as reading.

During reading we  must ensure we are actively reading .

Reading is a dialogue between you and the writer with no physical proximity.

Hence, while reading it's of utmost importance that we involve ourself with the emotions, context and perspective of the author without tampering with your assumptions and thinking.

Thinking is prohibited while reading because  it interferes with the clearity with which the author wants to  communicate with the reader.

For everybody's knowledge it's scientifically proven that we can live without thinking for long time unlike breathing.
Mediators live without thinking for hours and they don't die.

So we must atleast while reading stop the chatter and involve ourselves with the authors thoughts. 

It's a waste of time ,energy and even money spent on purchasing a book or magazine or Internet bill , if  you don't read actively .

And more importantly the basic fundamental reason for the reading activity is to gain insight is diluted and majority of time the communication between the reader and the author ends up as a misinterpretation or miscommunication.
Major reason for majority of people not completing a book which they start reading is a series of inactive reading episodes leading to less understanding and over a period of time loosing the context and interest .
The results are very disastrous.

Every author has a perspective of an subject
If someone has interest in that subject and has  invested time and resources getting an access to it then one  must atleast mandatorily get an insight of the perspective of the author.
Agreeing with the perspective or not is our  choice but atleast understanding it as it was wrote is our responsibility.

But due to lack of active Reading most of us miss the whole communication.

Effective communication is all about understanding different perspectives of different individuals with whom we communicate and exchange ideas resulting into a productivity of all kinds (financial ,emotional  psychological and spiritual)

Hence read as if the author is speaking in person to you and every word sentence and context of the material has something to convey to you which is utmost important to have a fruitful and productive outcome.

Example of reading and active Reading..

A quote from Karl Max 
"Religion is opium of the masses"

Interpretation of just Reading

In this quote
Firstly religion is quoted as opium (addictive narcotic) putting it in poor light
Secondly the masses i.e the public is put down by showing them addicted and deprived of other better things in life by addiction to religion (projected as opium)

Interpretation of Active reading

An Active Reader interprets the actual meaning of the quote with relevant  context as :
Opium relives pain
And Religion is the only saviour who behaves like a pain killer from all adversities that masses face in their day to day life.

Just see the difference and Miscommunication between reading and active Reading.

Happy Active Reading ...

Assumptions in listening.....

Assumptions are half truth or half baked dishes.
Impatience to listen or find out the complete truth forces us to assume
Facts are far away from assumptions in most of the cases
We assume Coz our mind thinks it knows the complete picture and it's very eager to conclude to a perception .
Mind always operates from the knowledge/known facts or known experience
It calculates and projects on basis of this knowledge and feels good at coming to a premature conclusions through some assumptions
Almost every time conclusions are distorted or tailor made to the sensibilities of mind or comforting the mind and may not necessarily be the facts
Miscommunication is the only outcome when such are the ways of mind
Assumptions based on prejudices are the major hindrance to Miscommunication and disharmony amongst individuals or group of individuals and lack of desired productivity.

Being aware helps in dealing with every circumstances .
Spiritual awareness is a state where you are involved in a experience and yet witnessing it simultaneously.
If we apply same technique /method during concluding any perception then possibility of avoiding assumptions is very real.

Asking few questions before making any conclusions might help..

1) Do I have enough evidence or facts to support my conclusions ?

2) Can I check or probe further about any gaps or disconnects with the communicator or people involved in the communication before making conclusions

3) Can i delay concluding ?

Practicing to delay spontaneous conclusions also might help to see the complete picture

Avoiding assumptions may avoid Miscommunication and may prevent loss of any deal , businesss Opportunity , customer  relationship or in personal life might help maintain relationship or strengthen them with friends and loved ones.

Eg of Assumption in communication

Today I had some work in south mumbai and I stay in suburbs so thought would travel by train

I had to go to Borivili station from kandivili thakur complex and so had to get a Auto.

I got a Auto  and told him want to go to BORIVILI  and he agreed and started confidently taking me on to highway as if he knew where in borivili I wanted to go without even asking me.

I wondered what POWER is he using to read my mind  but thought let me check what happens. Autorockshaw wala took me to borivili station .

I was surprised and asked him how did he knew that I had to go to borivili station and no where else in borivili .he said he drops many people daily from Thakur complex to station .

Ideally I should have communicated with specific location and even the auto rickshaw Driver should have seemed clarity on destination.

But he made an ASSUMPTION  and it miraculously matched with fact.

We also make assumptions daily in our communications

But all assumptions do not match with facts most of the time.

Active listening ...

Today is International listening day
And for records we assume that we listen in every communication
But the research says that we hear or partially listen at the most.
Listening and hearing are not the same
Hearing involves ears only
Listening involves ears , mind and heart and your whole being in awareness
Hearing is allowing the sound inside through ear drums
Listening is making efforts to interpret and understand the perspective ,emotions and context behind the sound without tampering with your prejudices.
Barriers to active listening are thinking while listening, assuming things and applying our prejudices to the sound.
Statistics say that 55% of our daily communication requires listening.
We spend 70 % of our daily awake conscious time in communicating .
Communication is a major part of our life
And 55%of that major part is listening and we hardly listen
No doubt there is so much of misunderstanding, misinterpretation and disharmony in our daily life .
We are away from total chaos in this world  only due to Democracy, society structure and individual adjustments .
The productivity of an human being is approx 10% of his capability
If we communicate well then we may improve our productivity significantly
Our relationships with each other may improve significantly
After all it is said that most important thing humans need is being understood by other fellow being.
So let's on this occasion of International listening day attempt active listening for at least 1 hr in the day.
Listen without thinking and without assuming to your child/ spouse/parents/siblings/ friend/boss/colleague/subordinate /customer whoever is most imp in your life and see the difference it will make to that individual and ultimately to you and your understanding
Happy listening...😊😊😊