Active listening is the key to empathy and relationship building but the authors explain that by actively listening — we:

• encourage people to open up
• reduce the chances for misunderstanding
• are more able to resolve problems and conflicts
• build trust further
...

Reflective listening is concerned with how you process what you've heard. All four components of active listening are put into work towards creating reflective responses.

The main principles of active listening are:

• Listen more than you talk

There are only two communication states: actively listening, and not really listening. Active listening requires us to understand, interpret, and evaluate what we're being told.

Our attention should be on the speaker and when we get the urge to say something, we stop this u...

1. Acceptance - means trying to avoid expressing agreement or disagreement, at least initially. 
2. Honesty - means that you're down to being open about your reactions, similar to acceptance — honest reactions given too soon can stifle further explanation ...