Mindful listening involves a high level of awareness. Once you are grounded and attending to the speaker, hold awareness of your internal experiences without losing connection to the other person.  Your internal experiences include your body sensations, emotions, and thoughts.  Pay particular attention to when your mind begins to wander or you feel the urge to interject your thoughts or ideas.  Simply observe what you are experiencing and maintain attention to the act of listening.

Once the speaker has stopped, this is your opportunity to deepen your listening by providing your interpretation of what you heard.  Paraphrasing is an effective tool for this as it precludes personal biases and beliefs.  Using your own words, repeat what you heard and saw.  Take into consideration any non-verbal cues, facial expressions and tones you picked up on.  Attempting to understand another is the key to rapport building and one of the greatest gifts we can give.