Listening means more than staying quiet—it means checking whether you’ve truly understood.

Looping helps uncover the feelings, needs, and requests beneath emotionally charged words.

Thoughtful looping invites correction instead of assuming you know what someone feels or needs.

Most of us think listening means staying quiet while someone else talks. We nod, wait our turn, and hope we’ve understood what they meant.

The trouble is that silence isn’t the same as understanding. And silence doesn't help people feel understood.

Misunderstandings rarely happen because people aren’t listening. More often, they happen because we’re listening through the filter of our own assumptions. One simple practice that can interrupt this pattern is looping.

Looping begins like paraphrasing. That is, checking your understanding before moving on or reflecting back what you think you heard. But looping goes beyond paraphrasing by checking in on underlying needs and inviting the other person to correct you.

While this sounds simple, it can completely........

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