I, too, have embarked on a mission to learn to listen and to practice what I learn in every aspect of my life.
I am currently reading a book recommended on your KLA thread, "The Lost Art of Listening". I am doing a lot of head-nodding as I read it.
I am now practicing to "suspend the self" when listening to others. I am doing this by: not rehearsing what I will say next, by not qualifying what I hear, by not offering advice when it's not asked of me and by not giving examples of how the same thing has happened to me.
I find the latter a bit harder since I always thought that was part of empathizing with the speaker.
As you say, it's an "area of growth" and I'm certainly a work in progress.
