Listening for Life: Recent Episodes
Hollins University
Are you ready for a group of college students to teach you how to listen? Listening for Life is the podcast that makes listening - and life - a little bit easier!
Have you ever noticed that we tend to cover one ear when we can't hear someone? Hosts Shyanne '25 and Brooke Tesfaye '24 explain this thing called the left-right ear advantage and how to avoid distractions.
Does being open minded and listening to viewpoints that are different than your own mean you have to give up your own beliefs? Hosts Carlia Kearney '23 and Tenley Reck '25 explain how to practice negative capability so you can get curious about those different viewpoints while strengthening your own.
How do you react when you're angry? Hosts Tianna Little-Clinton '22 and Halo Montgomery '24 explain how the amygdala in your brain can kick into overdrive when you're listening to people who might not agree with. And also how you can become more aware of an amygdala hijack.
You may have heard that women listen better than men. It's a common perception. But is it true? And what about nonbinary and nuerodivergent identities? Hosts Mars '25, Keegan '24, and Emma Thomas '22, look at how gender, neurodivergence, and socialization affect listening.
Have you ever met a person with their mask on, and when they take it off, they look nothing like what you thought they would? What we assume people will look like, rarely matches our expectations. Hosts Shekinah '24 and Naomi Gakusi '24 talk about assumptions and all the ways they interfere with our listening.
We all have it. A little voice inside our head that we are in constant dialogue with. Hosts Riley '24 and Sydney '24 explain how that inner voice both shapes and is shaped by the way we listen to other people.
In 2007, a group of researchers found that the average kid asks 107 questions per hour. 107 QUESTIONS PER HOUR! Lauren Lassere '25 and Seiya '24 talk about relearning how to be curious as adults to become better listeners.
Active listening. You've probably heard about it in school or at work. It's this buzzword everyone uses. But what exactly is active listening? And is anyone actually doing it? Hosts Abigail Richards '22 and Mercedes Wilson '25 share what it really looks like, and they speak with Hollins University President Mary Dana Hinton on how she practices active listening.