Listening effectively is difficult

Out of the four components of listening, sensing, interpreting, evaluating, or responding, I have the most trouble with is sensing. I think my life is just too busy with the “internal noise” of trying to do it all, work, school and family, to always tune in when a family member feels he or she has something important to say to me. Last week I was in the middle of studying for the midterm for this class when my daughter came to me to ask me my opinion on something. To her, I looked as if I am listening; however, to be honest, I wasn’t fully listening. I can see how often this happens because family members will say they said something previously, and I don’t even remember the conversation. Since there’s nothing I can really do about my busy lifestyle, the only solution I see to overcome this is to put more effort into the fourth component, evaluating. I need to interpret the messages of my family as important, and give them my full attention, which I know won’t be easy!