active listening

"encouraging the speaker and searching for meaning"

I've found that in most of the arguments that I have, the main part where they break down is where the other individual doesn't listen to what the other person says. While this is true on both sides of some of the arguments that I have, if I think about the person I argue with the most, they are an individual who never listens to me. I suppose it is probably because this individual is an authority figure over myself and therefore thinks that they have no obligation to listen to what I am saying.

But, how could a disagreement ever be solved properly if they are always one-sided? Otherwise, it's one person getting what they want and the other person never getting what they want, even if the other person may be right. Because without active listening, you're not paying attention to what the other individual is saying, you're simply preparing for your next amazing point to refute everything that they had said before.

But, in my experience that passive listening isn't even alive in the arguments that I have. It simply is an automatic shut-down of what the other person is saying and therefore nothing is ever heard. Or one person shouting over another person because they refuse to listen to anything that they are saying. Which is why the art of democracy of active listening is so imperative for a healthy debate that's going to get things done.