Читать книгу The Positive Woman - Gael Lindenfield, Gael Lindenfield - Страница 38

Highly tuned observation and listening skills are essential to clear rational thinking. Our eyes and ears are incredibly adept at selecting out information according to the mood we are in – if we ‘get out of the wrong side of the bed’ we don’t even look for the blue sky, or if we’ve been told to expect a boring speech, we’ll sleep through the juicy bits!

Here are some ways in which you can take better control of these senses and encourage them to give you beneficial information:

– Practise your concentration by spending five minutes a day selecting and focusing on certain sounds such as bird song or a ticking clock, and consciously switching off other distracting sounds.

– Check that your body is in an alert position – no slouching or wandering eyes.

– Close your eyes occasionally and practise recalling in detail what you have just seen.

– If you find yourself ‘switching off’ from someone who is boring, put yourself into the role of constructive critic.

– Use the classic counselling technique of ‘Reflection’ to check out your listening skills, i.e. summarize what has been said by repeating back to the speaker what they have said. If you use slightly different words you won’t sound like a parrot!

– Use drawing regularly to observe detail (not to produce great works of art for public consumption!)

– In the privacy of your own home, practise the art of ‘mimicking’ various people, not to make fun of them but to improve your ability to observe their finer points. (This is a skill we were all born with – what young child can’t mimic its parents with uncomfortable accuracy!)

– Take notes – but don’t play stenographer, just jot down key words.

– Look after your ears and your eyes by not overloading them and giving them plenty of time to rest.

– Continually make a conscious effort to switch your body into a relaxed state, as physical tension impairs both sight and hearing.