Tuesday, January 24, 2012

Effectual communicating can sometimes be a tedious task that leaves one’s head hurting.  Most often, this happens when emotions get involved.  But always, communication is made more challenging when one person doesn’t effectively listen to the other.

When it’s recognized that the other person has stopped listening to what’s being said, too intent on reacting with their emotions, the person who’s trying to make themselves understood has several choices.  They can become defensive, also allowing their emotions to run amok, or they can point out what’s happening.  If neither of these techniques works, it may be appropriate to take a time out. 

Raising one’s voice to be better heard is inefficacious.  All it does is put the other person in a defensive mode.  Likewise, throwing a fit, storming out of the room or slamming down the phone has similar negative results.  But, taking a deep breath, and as cliché as it sounds, counting to ten before expressing that a cooling down period might be in order, yields positive results.

No one’s a mind reader.  As such, the only way folks can productively communicate is to honestly express themselves while the other person puts aside their emotions in order to really hear what’s being conveyed to them.