Communicate: The one thing you’re doing without realizing!
- Josh Haycraft
- Jun 5, 2020
- 2 min read
Updated: Jun 6, 2020
I have two firmly grounded beliefs when it comes to being human:
- We are relational beings
- We are always communicating
The belief of being a relational being will be saved for another week. This week I wanted to share some of the things that I have learned about communication. If nothing else I hope that you take away from this is that:
We are always communicating!
Communication is a central part of human existence. Entire fields of study have been devoted to this topic, and the different methods that we use to communicate. To name a few we can: be verbal, use our body (posture, gestures, etc), write something, or do nothing. Yes, even in doing nothing we are communicating!
Communication is a process, one in which we do not have to actively perform in order for it to occur. An easier thing to describe is what we assume communication is. Communication is an act which depends upon one object to send a message and another to receive it. It sounds easy right? What about those times that we are asked:
- What are you thinking about?
If you’re like me there are times when I am not thinking...but yet someone received a message that I was! At this point you might be scratching your head a little, and that’s OK. Communication is a little deeper than we often think it is.
Earlier this week I witnessed an example of a communication process that I would like to share. The Prime Minister of Canada Justin Trudeau was asked a question about the United States during this trying time and the following 21 seconds was amazing to witness. If you haven’t seen it, please check it out here:
I am curious about a few things:
What message(s) did you receive from the Prime Minister?
What were your reactions during the 21 second pause?
What were your thoughts during the 21 second pause?
Don’t worry there are no right or wrong answers to these questions. They are designed to help with this exercise. I suspect that if you asked someone else what their answers were there would be some differences between the two. The reason for this difference is that we are all unique and possess our own background and experiences. In essence no person is a carbon copy of another. We are all individuals, hence when we are participating in communication we receive a message and interpret it based upon where we are within the present moment.
This often makes me wonder, what am I communicating? What about you?
Comments