This past Saturday I had the amazing experience of substitute hosting for WHUR's The Audrey Chapman Show. Wow! Check out my "Living a Values-Filled Life" notes on the show blog.
The show got me thinking. I am a strong believer in the power of communication. I am a very good communicator, but I also value communication so much that I work every day to be the best communicator I can be in every experience. I don't always succeed, but I always try.
Here are a handful of things that have come up recently as I continue exploring the possibilities of communication:
*No matter how good you are, you can always be better. And yes, that can be said about almost everything in life.
*Listening is more than not talking. Check your commitment to the person who is speaking, your assumptions about them and what they are saying, and your emotional attachment to what is being shared. These can all have a profound impact on your conversation with that person. I am learning a great deal about listening from the International Listening Association. You can, too.
*"Just the facts ma'am." Well, not always. Just because someone said something, or you read something somewhere, that doesn't make it true. Check it out. I've come to feel that a lot of things are stated as if they are facts when they are actually data (more often it's partial data) with someone's particular slant added to it. As the political sparring heats up through next year, get ready for lots of that.
*What's the point? When you say something, please try to have one. It's amazing how often we are not clear about where we're headed with something before it starts spilling from our lips. If you're not sure it's usually OK to say so. Some of the best conversations I've ever been in included someone's admission that they didn't know how to say something, or exactly what they wanted to say. However, feel free to pause a moment to check in with yourself before you begin.
*You don't have to speak for a long time to say something worthwhile. Lincoln's Gettysburg Address was so short, especially for his day, that the photographer wasn't completely set up before it was over. My conversations with small business people for Patch articles are not that long, but I learn so much from them.
Need I say more?
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