Listening is difficult because it involves suppressing your ego long enough to consider what is being said before you respond.

When someone starts talking, our minds listen for:
1. Reasonably guess what they are going to say. (E.g., “I know what you are going to say.”)
2. Identify a pattern. (E.g., “I know where you are going with this.”)
3. Something we disagree with (E.g., “That’s wrong.”)

When one of those things happens, we stop listening and our mind starts preparing our response. The conversation then becomes about us, and if both people do this it’s no longer even a “conversation”.

One work to understand the other person’s perspective as well as they do. Agreement if not necessary, just understanding. A conversation is not a race to make a point, but rather an exploration of someone’s mind.