Psychologist-to-be : Good Listener

Being a good listener I think is one of an essential characteristic as a psychologist. We will listen and deal with various stories and problem. A therapy will not only take several minutes but it can be hour. Client may complain about the same thing over and over again. Good listener should be balanced with patience. Why patience? Not everyone can make a quick change in his or her life, and so are the clients. Sometimes it is even harder to take the first step. While the clients share their problems, we need to encourage and give support to them to be brave to take the first step in order to solve their problem.

Is it easy being a good listener? I don’t think so. Being a good listener means you respect and listen when other people are talking, which I think it is one of major problem in people themselves. Take example, in class, students might focus on other things instead of listening to the lecturer or anyone who is having presentation. Indeed, when the lecturer is boring we will get easily distracted with anything that’s more interesting for us like drawing, chat with friends, etc. honestly, I did that too sometimes. However, it gives me guilty feeling. I should not do that. It is inappropriate; I should pay attention to the lecturer. Or at least, pretend like I’m interested. Yes, I realize that not everything we’re listening will be that interesting so, just pretends! Wouldn’t it be the same when we finally be psychologist and have clients. Not every problem of the clients is interesting. We can’t just choose and say I want to treat this client because his or her problem is interesting for me and I refuse other client because their problem is too mainstream and boring. Like I mentioned before, they might complain about the same thing over and over again and you might start to get bored. So what you need to do is act cool to listen to them (which you actually have known the problem) and encourage them.

Me myself, a manner of being a good listener is developed since childhood. My conscience tells me that I should listen and respect people. I believe that everyone wants to be listened. So for me, if you want to be respected and listened, why don’t you start to respect and listen to others first. In fact, instead of pretending to listen, I like to listen in people’s stories. I feel happy when someone decided to share his or her stories or problem with me. For me, each story is different. At first, it might seem the same. For example, many of my friends share about their love life, broken heart, false hope, etc. But once they start to open themselves and tell more, there always be something different in each case. Their reason of loving the person, how the relationship leads to broken heart, etc. Like anthropologist said, each individual is unique, and so are their stories and experiences. Basically for me, being a good listener is not because I like to, but because it is our responsibility to show respect to others by listening while they are talking.