Have you ever wanted someone to truly feel that you are listening to them? Have you ever wanted to lovingly acknowledge what someone was saying even though you didn’t agree with it? How to you acknowledge feedback from someone, especially if you don’t agree with it?
People want to be Genuinely Seen and Heard
As shared in “Seeing from your Heart”, to truly connect with someone is to see them as a whole and perfect human being, as someone who is always doing their best. To do this, you must feel kindness, compassion, appreciation and reverence for the person…and to do that, you need to get out of your head and into your heart where these feelings reside.
As shared in “5 Tips of How to Listen Effectively”, one tip is to close your mouth! Silence says that you are open to being 100% present in the moment, open to learning, and open to truly understanding the other person’s ideas, feedback, input, thoughts and feelings; it says that you are open to the positive development of the relationship. Silence is underutilized, yet very powerful.
“I hear you”, “I hear what you are saying”, “I hear you and I hear what you are saying”
In addition to nonverbal communication (“The 93% Impact of Nonverbal Communication”), verbally acknowledging a person is an act of kindness and grace. If it is unnecessary to seek clarification through “Communication Checkpoints”, then simply and sincerely say “I hear you”, “I hear what you are saying”, or “I hear you and I hear what you are saying.”
“I Hear You” is the new “I Love You”
When you are truly present with someone and listening to them, in both personal and professional situations, genuinely saying “I hear you” is an act of kindness and compassion. To authentically say “I hear you” has the same energy as if you said “I appreciate you”, “I see you as a divine human being”, “I am connected with you in this moment” – all feelings of love.
You can always say “I Hear You”
Saying “I hear you” is all-embracing. It can be used in personal or professional relationships, with people you know well or with people you encounter in your daily course of life, and in both positive and negative situations. And, ”I hear you” does not indicate or imply that you agree with them or what they are saying! For example, someone may tell you that your hair is too long. You might not agree with them, however, you can acknowledge their opinion by saying “I hear you” or, if authentic, “I hear you and I will take your input into (careful) consideration.” In fact, this may stop a potentially negative or judgmental conversation
Having these 3 word phrase on the tip of your tongue could prove to make your life more positive, authentic, and flowing. You can’t go wrong with genuinely saying “I hear you” to anyone at any time.
Very Smart Girls say “I hear you” every day, even if it is to themselves.
Very Smart Girls know that listening to themselves and their intuition is of the upmost importance.
As always, comments welcome. The name you type in the comment section (for example, Jo-Ann, Jo-Ann Downey or Jo-Ann from Boston) will appear on the site. Your email address will NOT appear. If you provide a website URL (for example, your business or your blog URL), it will be linked to your name so that others can learn more about you.
photo credit: mercal crifasi
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{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
Great post Jo-Ann! I agree with the “I hear you” statement. Oftentimes, we ‘react’ to criticisms harshly without even realizing it.
To use those 3 words allows us to accept the criticism with a grain of salt and keep it pushin’ without adding resentment to the conversation.
Simple tip, powerful impact. Thanks for sharing!
You are most welcome and I appreciate your enthusiasm! It is nice to be heard on my blog
Jo-Ann –
Love your work, always! I love the pictures as well. Sometimes I check out the pictures and the headline without reading the articles to see if I can guess what your message is. They are fantastic.
BTW – that beer on the table looks fantastic too! But seriously, the human elements you catch with this imagery is amazing.
Thank you Ryan! I hear you!!!
This is so great to keep in mind and very important to encouraging communication without judgment. The phrase “I hear you” has become somewhat cliche though – does anyone have suggestions for other words that give the same message but sound more authentic?
Dorian,
I have brainstormed many alternative ways around “I hear you” and still come back to those 3 words. To me, even if the words are cliche, it is where you are coming from when you say the words that is the most important thing. Anyway, for your consideration here are some alternatives to “I hear you”: “I see”, “I am taking in what your are sharing”, “I understand (you)”, “I get it”. Hopefully, you will get some ideas from others. Thank you for your question!