Rate Your Communicate!!

      Communication is such an important thing in this life. It has an affect on everything that goes on around us and it can have tremendous effects as well. And it definitely is more than just words and talking. It is how those words are spoken, when they are spoken, if they are heard, and heard in the way we want them to be heard. Body language also has a lot to do with it, so not only should our lips and ears be used in communication, but our body can say a lot by its position and appearance. And words shouldn't just come from the lips, but from the heart and mind! And the heart and mind need to be involved in the ears that are listening as well. So true, honest, sincere communication requires every part of our body. And, how often do we truly do that? And what happens if we don't communicate that effectively?

     I am sure we can all relate to some time in our lives when something was said, by us or some one else, that was misunderstood! Why? Was it spoken clearly enough? Were we listening? Did the tone it was spoken in have something to do with it? Was it clear that through our body language, we or they, were not really paying close enough attention to understand it fully? Did we allow it to escalate due to the misunderstanding? Did it make our relationship with the other person more distant? Was it the first step to the destruction of that relationship?

     Communication is so vitally important in order to learn, grown, and develop our relationships with others in a good and positive way. And it would be so nice if we all naturally just had all the communication skills to have perfect relationships with everyone, BUT unfortunately none of us are born with those skills. They need to be learned and we need to continue to focus on them throughout our lives. Why? Why can't we just learn them and that's that? Because emotions also have alot to do with communication and emotions change frequently. So emotions are also another area of communication that we need to learn to control in order for communication to turn out well. Remember as stated in the first paragraph: heart and mind need to be involved!! And that should be considered the emotional as well as the mental state of the speaker and the listener!!!

     Will we ever have it down to perfection? Highly doubtful, at least in this life, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't keep trying. Stop and consider how you communicate, when you are doing the talking and when you are the listener! What can you do to improve? Set some goals and work on it. Ask for help from family and friends to remind you of what you are striving for. Nothing is 100% sure, but I think most of us are willing to help one another try to be better people and learning to communicate better is only going to make life less stressful and positive for you and those you communicate with. And even though we are trying to improve we need to be patient with ourselves AND with those around us.

     And I think at this point, I am going to stick with communication for a bit longer in my future blogs; maybe break it down into the different parts and share thoughts I have read lately about each, etc.. Well, that's my plan, for now, and hopefully my communicative desires remain positive and understandable by each of you who read them!!