God gave us two ears to listen and just one mouth to speak. Maintain the proportion.

Converse...

Here are some tips.

1. Be present: Listen actively. Be there with the person you are conversing. Get involved. Don't get distracted with other thoughts and conflicts in your mind, Do not argue in your mind.



2. Open up: Be straitforward. Say so if you don't agree. Do not hold back. After all you are conversing. Conversation is about making your point clear so why keep things in your mind instead of speaking them out.



3. Empathy: Understand other's point. Be in the speaker's shoes to understand him well. But be yourelf and respond with comment like:
   
   
   1. I see your point.
      
   2. I am not sure if I agree with you but I understand why you feel that way.
      
      
   Mirror the breath of the other person to be in sync with his thought-process. Watch if he is breathing slowly, fast or having interrupted breath. This will make you understand him better. Mirror his/her breath. Now, you can easily move with him - what he is feeling, what he is thinking etc. This will give you an extra edge in being more empathetic with the person you are talking to.

For effective conversation move along with the other person. Practice politeness. Your polite respnoses keep the other person in touch with you. When people move along they move faster... evolve faster to some conclusion. When you two are considerate of each other conversation evolves and most probably will take some meaningful ending.

• You need to...

Start practicing these words instead.

• I would appreciate if you could...
• ...that I’d like you to consider.