Listen twice as much as you speak

“We have two ears and one mouth for a reason- to listen twice as much as we speak”. - Mary Southerland

I never quite understood the concept of two ears except that for me then, it pretty much made sense that we have two of them so that we look good and hear from both sides; or that when you are being spoken to and needs not to hear, you simply let it in through one ear and go out through the other. Funny understanding that was, but nothing spoken ever escapes through the other ear, it must go into the ear, stay in the head and it is then left for the recipient to either work on it or let it rot in there.
In his book, the 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, Stephen Covey made a remarkable statement and it sure makes a lot of sense... “Seek first to understand” that means when spoken to, we must listen to the words inside the words being spoken and get it. If you do not get the words you may have spent an eternity gathering sticky wax up your ears and at the end of the day, you spoil someone else’s day . The art of listening is a very essential part of life and without it man just will be seen as the rest of the pack…..animals.

For the kind of job we do and the kind of people we meet and interact with on a daily basis, it is imperative that we listen and listen well and also to be able to get good value for as much as we speak or are spoken too.

The ear has a very funny shape, curvy with layers and borders that makes the words spoken find their way into the drum and up to the…I really do not know all the Jargon but I am sure we understand what I am trying to say.

We must listen well and really good because words are in various forms, they stink, they tickle, they massage, they pain, they sooth, they pierce, they are harsh, they kill, they save, they destroy, they go fast, they are sticky, they are timely, they are untimely…. etc.

Have you ever wondered why we get sticky wax up in our ears, I mean apart from the part that it is a defensive mechanism? I know I will be floored by the “experts” on health issues if we were to argue it, but this is what I think - If you have to get the cotton bud to clean your ears from time to time, you should have heard twice as much as was spoken.
Good listeners always knows the best answer for any question asked even if they know little or nothing about the subject matter because the person asking the question always mostly gives away the answer while asking the question.

So learn to listen thrice as much as you speak and you will always be found on the pages of he who is right and wise.