Listening Skills

I feel I am a people centered listener. When ever I am in a conversation with someone my attention is on them majority of the time, unless I am in a rush to get somewhere. I actually care what they are saying and I would like it back in return. But naturally I take everything in and really get a feel to what their saying. I am not the kind of person to just pretend I’m listening and blow it off.
I learned this approach from my family. I grew up (majority of the time) being around my entire mom side of the family, cousins, aunts, uncles, and my nana and grandpa. I feel that because we are Italian and all very close to one another I developed a strong care and compaction for others. Were always hugging and when we see each other we give a kiss on the cheek to say hello and goodbye. My mom’s side can talk for HOURS so we always shared our feelings and talked about what is going on.
This works in almost all situations and it works for me, except if you are talking to someone on a professional level, in a job, etc. I personally know that when I am talking, I want to know if I have your full attention. I’ll ask you sometimes “are you listening?” or I will just stop talking until they say something. It means a lot to some people. Many have the same feel about it. Knowing you can talk to someone and count on him or her is very important, it might not always be important but just for the satisfaction.
There have been a few times that I have experienced people centered listening and content centered listening. One of my best friends Kat goes to school in Florida and there was one night recently that she was really upset because of a guy and without saying it she tried to deny it. I am really observant just naturally, and knowing my best friend I can tell in her voice and her tone that something was not right. Given, I was not focusing all my attention on her because of the distraction in her voice. I was truly concerned, for I know she has been missing home pretty badly. Within four minutes of her talking I asked if everything was okay. However, she tried brushing it off, kind of ignoring it and said “I’m fine.” Then she got mad at me because she thought I was not paying attention. What I went through was people-centered listening to figure out and analyze how she was saying things. On the other hand, when claiming I was not listening she expressed she wanted me to actually listen to what she was saying by using content centered listening. I now know to come that there are some people that would prefer you to focus on what they are saying, than how they are saying it.