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June 2006 -- WELCOME
THE LISTENING CONNECTION
--your world-wide connection to "effective-active listening"
EAR-OPENING CONTENTS
1)June Ear-opening commentary.
"Listening - A Vital Necessity of Life"
2) Your INTERACTIVE DIMENSION - Your Opportunity: To Respond to these June Questions of the Month
3) World-wide INTERACTIVE RESPONSES to the April-May 2006 Edition Questions
4) June Thought Provoker.
5) Ear-Opening Limited Package Special!!
Gifts of Hope and Inspiration for Those You Respect and Admire
1) Listening - A Vital Necessity of Life
by Greg Bauer
Survival and the determination to succeed and accomplish something every day is a key component of human nature.
The key element to one's success and survival is directly linked to how effectively each individual listens day
in and day out -- everyday. How effectively one listens to themselves and to others is a key measure of their
level of maturity, leadership, and their ability to carry on lasting relationships with others on their path
of life.
Listening becomes a vital necessity of life. Listening is as vital of a necessity of life as necessary as drinking water everyday.
Without a daily consumption of water your body begins to tell you that it needs water:
- headaches
- muscle aches
- dry mouth
- heat exhaustion
- dehydration
- illness
- and even possibly death.
Your body is screaming out to you: WATER!
Without your actively utilizing the power of effective-active listening your life, your very own heart, mind, and soul
are beginning to tell you to listen as the signs show:
- Reactionary/spontaneous not thought-out responses.
- Your own thoughts and ideas quickly dismissed by others.
- Your impatience with yourself and others.
- Constantly finding that your opinion/decision is the only right one.
- Discovering your lack of caring and understanding of others.
- Your constant avoidance of looking at the big picture.
- You are always #1.
- Whoever you hurt or destroy with your opinions and decisions is not important.
- Your having to unnecessarily repeat doing something over and over again.
- Your wondering why a decision/conclusion came about totally to your surprise.
- A lack of disrespect others have for you in some or all phases of your life.
- Your feeling of becoming totally isolated from others in some or all phases of your life.
- Your inability to be able to pick up on all of the details in one-on-one conversations, meetings, or conferences.
- Your inability to see, hear, and feel what others are trying to convey.
- Your inability to challenge and better understand what others are trying to say.
- Your inability to challenge and better understand what your own heart, mind, and soul are trying to tell you.
- And many other signs/symptoms of ineffective-inactive-listening (you fill in your own additions).
- _________________________________________________________________________.
- _________________________________________________________________________.
- _________________________________________________________________________.
These are signs/symptoms of your own heart, mind, and soul screaming out:
PLEASE - LISTEN - PLEASE
Every time that you take a drink of water, use that as a reminder to check your listening barometer.
Begin to explore the many unexposed ear-opening possibilities.
2) YOUR INTERACTIVE DIMENSION -- YOUR OPPORTUNITY: RESPOND TO THESE JUNE
QUESTIONS OF THE MONTH.
BRIEFLY EXPLAIN:
(1) Share with us some of the symptoms/signs of your not "utilizing the power of effective-active
listening" from all aspects of your life:
- At work?
- At Home?
- At Play?
- ___________________?
(2) What is it going to take for you to alter your perspectives to make the commitment to better "utilize the
power of effective-active listening in your daily course of life?
*YOUR OPPORTUNITY -- CONNECT WITH:*
THE LISTENING CONNECTION
YES -- This is your opportunity to share any of your answers (responses) to the questions from above with our international
audience of subscribers of The Listening Connection. 1) We will include your answer(s)/response(s) in our next (JULY) issue.
2) Our readers (subscribers) would also appreciate your providing us with your first name only, state you reside in (if in the U.S.), and your country.
We are really looking forward to sharing with you new horizons in The Listening Connection
being your worldwide connection to "effective-active listening". E-mail your perspectives/responses to: gregbauer@listenone.com.
3) WORLDWIDE INTERACTIVE RESPONSES TO
THE APRIL-MAY 2006 EDITION QUESTIONS:
(1) How has being unprepared and having a lack of Practice in internally utilizing the power of
effective-active listening to your heart, mind, and soul affected you when the big unexpected disasters
exploded without warning in your life?
(2) How did you use the tools from your listening toolkit-for-life when these unexpected life-circumstances
exploded?
Responses to the April-May questions 1 and 2:
MARK -- IOWA -- USA
You are absolutely right! I was totally unprepared when the disaster struck and totally unpracticed
in being in touch with myself. I was just floating along in life day-by-day and just taking care of business as usual.
Life actually seemed pretty good.
For the past 15 years I developed a printing and color graphics business and was doing quite well with a clientele
of many, many small steady customers. Somewhere along the line I now realize that I should have been listening to my
customers, myself, and my small staff of five. Year by year passed and business was better than ever. We were busier
than ever and profits were better than ever. However, the dynamics of our business changed dramatically without my
really listening to what was occurring. The vast majority of our business was now with 3 large accounts and only 8
small accounts still existed.
Two months ago one of these large accounts took all of their business to an out-of-state company with
international ties. We were still so busy, I now realize that my mind was still stuck in the busy mode and I
wasn't listening (practiced) to identify what this loss of customers meant to our future.
Then last month, a second large account informed us that their firm had been bought out and that they would have
to now do all of their printing, design, and graphics work with that of now their new parent company by the month's end.
Disaster and total devastation took over and my mind and listening abilities were now on shut down. Yes, I was in a
state far beyond just being numb.
The road of hard knocks is now setting in and I'm now on the long road to rebuilding and sharpening my listening skills.
AMANDA -- CANADA
Life is a very valuable asset. Life and what it's all about needs to be cherished and honored.
As a physical therapist for the past 8 years and working with incredible individuals (patients) with dynamic strength
and extraordinary outlooks, I've grown to learn and appreciate the significance of practicing listening to
your heart, mind, and soul through the living example personified by those who God has placed in my charge.
DUSTY -- ILLINOIS -- USA
I read your April-May commentary on the importance of actually practicing listening. I couldn't get the idea out of my mind.
Everyday for the past month I started to make a daily journal jotting down notes of my thoughts while I'd make a
concerted effort to practice this listening to my heart, my mind, and my soul.
It's been a very revealing and moving month.
I'll keep you posted on the revelations.
JOSH -- AUSTRALIA
Your "Practice Listening" article is the most valuable significant point I've come across in a long time.
To truly identify and listen to my mind, heart, and soul is so important in determining where I should be focusing
my energies.
I've become motivated to verbally express all of my thoughts on a daily basis into my newly purchased digital
recorder.
I've shared your article and the excitement it generated with my colleagues at the office and my group at church.
LINDA -- INDIANA -- USA
The cloud of death has been hanging over me for the past six months when my parents were killed in an out of state
car crash. I've been devastated. They were not only my parents, but also my best friends where we spoke daily either
over the phone or in person (living only two miles away) as did my 6 and 8-year-old children. The numbness from this loss
has not gone away.
Thank you for your "Whatever Happened" article. It's provided the window I so desperately needed to start talking
and listening to my own heart, mind, and soul over how I and the kids need to come to grips with our loss and how we are going
to move ahead by practicing with our listening ears.
CELESTE -- MINNESOTA
After reading your "Whatever Happened" article I just had to share with you what happened at my place of employment
where I've been working for the past 4 years.
My job is at the manufacturing end of the product that is custom made for each of our customers. The idea for each
product starts with the customer's needs and desires. Then product development engineers and designers begin to develop
the specific product to meet that specific customer's needs and desires. Then they work with engineers and materials support people
to actually bring a prototype for us to manufacture the final product.
After being at this job for over a year I began to comprehend the entire start to finish process. I then began
to realize that we in manufacturing were making the same product over and over again 5 or 6 times before we got it right.
I didn't think it was my place to say anything, after all, all of these experienced and very technical people
must know what they're doing. I began to really listen to what my heart, mind, and soul were telling me to do and that was
to share my opinions about what could help expedite each project with fewer reproduction efforts and money wasted. That
very day, the president of the company was walking by my station and asked how the current project was going and wanted to know
my perspectives on that project. I gulped, took a big breath, and proceeded to share with him my thoughts and opinions not
only on this project, but on many of our past products.
The very next day he had me repeat everything I told him before our entire engineering and development team. That was almost
two years ago now and ever since that meeting I've been involved in all of the product determination meetings that
have led up to manufacturing. Product production times have been consolidated and product-error reproductions have been minimized.
Yes, I'm still staying in touch with what my heart, mind, and soul are telling me.
4) JUNE THOUGHT PROVOKER
Unless you try to do something beyond what you have already mastered, you will never grow.
-- Ronald E. Osborn
5) Ear-Opening Package Special
The Breathing Blanket (book)
GREG BAUER – AUTHOR – VICTIM AND SURVIVOR OF A NEAR-DEATH DRUNK-DRIVING CRASH EXPERIENCE REVEALS IN HIS RECENTLY RELEASED INSPIRATIONAL BOOK – THE BREATHING BLANKET – HOW YOU CAN DISCOVER AN “I CAN DO IT” ATTITUDE BY INTERNALLY “UTILIZING THE POWER OF EFFECTIVE-ACTIVE- LISTENING”.
Celebrate Selling the Consultative Relationship Way (book)
Greg Bauer -- "The Guru of Listening" -- Co-Author
Opportunities in your personal life and corporate life are created by actively promoting and practicing relationship building and active listening efforts. This book reveals ways to establish and build relationships in customer service, management, sales, networking and self-promotion in the 21st century.
The Breathing Blanket (book)
(Limited remaining 1st edition copies)
+
Celebrate Selling the Consultative Relationship Way (book)
* * * Together a $30.00 value + shipping and handling * * *
Your investment in your future
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ATTENTION: SUBSCRIBERS
(1) Our focus of this Newsletter will continue and remain on techniques, skills, and attitudes toward how we better "Utilize the Power of Effective-Active-Listening"™ in future issues.
(2) Your ideas and suggestions as to subjects you would like to hear about in the upcoming issues of this Newsletter - The Listening Connection - pertaining to listening would really be appreciated and we would like to hear from you at gregbauer@listenone.com.
In The Spirit of Sharing With Others . . .
. . . Opportunities Become Accomplishments™
©Greg Bauer (President, Greg Bauer & Associates, Inc. / DBA Listen1)
Editor/Publisher 2006
· Looking forward to our sharing the next edition of The Listening Connection
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