I've been working on teaching the kids the difference between the words "looking, seeing, hearing and listening" for a while now. Few see a difference and I want to make sure they see it. But I thought I'd take that lesson and blog about it, to spread it around.
According to the dictionary.
To LOOK is to direct one's gaze toward someone or something or in a specified direction.
To SEE is to perceive with the eyes; discern visually
AND to become aware of something from observation or from a written or other visual source
Looking is the simple act of directing your gaze to something specific. But seeing is a deeper thing. To SEE something you must put your focus on it, observe it.
When we ask "Do you see?" We are not asking "Are you looking?" The meaning of the first question holds a deeper more concrete focus than the other question.
To focus on the other one, Hearing and listening.
To HEAR is to perceive with the ear the sound made by (someone or something).
AND to be told or informed of.
AND to be aware of; know of the existence of.
To LISTEN is to give one's attention to a sound.
AND to take notice of and act on what someone says; respond to advice or a request.AND to make an effort to hear something; be alert and ready to hear something.
It is ALSO used to urge someone to pay attention to what one is going to say.
So here you see that hearing is the simple act in this case while listening requires effort and recollection.
To SEE you must LOOK and to LISTEN you must HEAR. However you can look and not see and hear but not listen. It's just not advised. To look and hear but not see and listen is generic and frustrating. Learn to look and see and hear and listen. Life gets a whole lot easier when you do both at the same time (look and see being one category, hear and listen in the other)
My life has been a mess lately so I'm trying to do all of that in my SEARCH to FIND that next thing for my life. I'm Searching thoroughly and will find it in time.
Hopefully you will be doing the same.
Until next time let us seek and find...
-Lynnea