Habitual Listening and Optimum listening

These two types of listening made complete sense to me, and I witnessed them during public meetings I’ve recently attended. Most of the time, people are habitual listeners. They are listening passively and not using much brain power. So typically at a meeting, most people are listening, but not very intently. In some situations, though, people demonstrate optimum listening. I find this is the case when an announcement that might affect their job, for instance, is being made. When listening to another person can have a dramatic and direct effect on their lives, people really pay attention. What I found interesting were the differences in how this was reflected through body movements. (I almost said body language and had to stop myself!) I’m thinking of one person in particular and I noticed that he sat on the edge of his seat and looked the speaker in the eye intently when he was engaged in optimum listening, while for habitual listening he just sat back in his chair and you could almost see his mind wander.