Active Listening is a form of listening and reflecting back what you’ve heard that can deepen the bond, the trust, the understanding and the mutual respect in relationships.

Reflecting back what you’ve heard uncovers misunderstandings earlier. The listener can then reflect back by paraphrasing in their own words what they think they’ve understood and then give the other person speaking a chance to clarify or further explain; “Ok so what I think I understand is that what happened was …., then this happened ….., and now you’re feeling …. and what you now need is for …. Does that sound right?”
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Because active listening slows down the communication, this helps people to feel more safe and secure; it lowers rather than raises their stress levels.
People can only really share when they feel safe and secure. –
Some possible lead-ins
“What I hear you saying is that …”
“In other words ….?”
“Let me get this straight…”
“So you felt that …”
“If I understand you correctly…”
“Do you mean…”
“Would you say that ….”
“…Did I get that right?”