Nice one Pauliina
I've been working on listening on and off the mat for the last few years. It seems to me that it's the first part of any aiki response as it allows you to respond to what IS, and without it you can't blend. It's the difference between doing "to" and doing "with" - and people seem to like it!
My mum's a counselor (the therapist kind) so I should be good at this stuff, but it's difficult! One thing I've learnt is that listening is very much an active process. There's an aikido 6th dan called Richard Moon who VERY into listening. I've yet to meet him but he has an article here:
http://www.aikidoofmarin.com/richardmoon.html
He's been involved in international diplomacy, including work with youth from war zones if I remember rightly.