Encouragement to others is something everyone can give. Somebody needs what you have to give. It may not be your money; it may be your time. It may be your listening ear. It may be your arms to encourage. It may be your smile to uplift. Who knows? Joel Osteen

The basic human of all human needs is to understand and to be understood. The best way to understand people is to listen to them. Dr. Ralph Nichols

Listening could be a sincerest form of flattery. Change begins with understanding and understanding begins by identifying oneself with another person. In a word, empathy and compassion that enable us to put ourselves in the minds, eyes, ears and hearts of another person.

Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around.

I have learned that one of the most sincere forms of respect and compliment is actually listening to what the other person has to say. Listening is such a simple act but it requires us to be present, we don't have to do anything else. We don't have to advise, coach, nor sound wise. We just have to be willing to sit there and listen!

When we are listening to somebody, completely and attentively, we are listening not only to the words, but also to the feeling of what is being conveyed, to the whole of it, not part of it. Most of the successful people I've known are the ones who do more listening than talking.

By Tim Pedrosa

Tim