Understanding Others Through Healthy Communication People tend to respond to what others say with their own thoughts. This is a natural part of the ebb and flow of conversation. However, it often means they aren’t listening. Even though we all “know” how to listen we often do a poor job of it. True listening takes effort and practice. How will you …
Emotional Intelligence – Learn to Monitor Your Emotions
Emotion is thought materialized in our physical being. Emotion is both the joy and the bane of our humanity. Life without it would be bleak and colorless, yet it defies and distorts our comprehension. This reminds me of the old saying, “Can’t live with them, and can’t live without them.” Knowing emotion is a fact of life doesn’t solve, for most …
Effective Communication Tips – Speak Respectfully & Directly
Let your speech be always full of grace, seasoned with salt. ~ Colossians 4:6 Have you ever started an innocent conversation with someone only to have it disintegrate into anger or frustration? We sometimes try to pinpoint where it all went wrong; but a more useful starting point may be, “What can I do to prevent it?” Other than those lopsided encounters …
Power of Acceptance and Gratitude – Feel Freedom in Relationships
Those who deny freedom to others deserve it not for themselves, and, under a just God, cannot long retain it. ~ Abraham Lincoln: Letter to H.L. Pierce, April 6, 1859 Relationships are sometimes a quagmire of emotion, misunderstandings, and unmet expectations. Rather than feeling free and joyful, we often find ourselves feeling trapped and frustrated. I sometimes hear people lament, “I was …
Key Elements to Active Listening: Effective Communication
For when you come to think of it, the only way to love a person is not … to coddle them and bring them soup when they’re sick, but by listening to them and seeing and believing in the god, in the poet in them. ~ Brenda Ueland The first element of communication, speaking, is impossible without the second, listening; to be a …
Being Present in the Moment
… striving to find meaning in one’s life is the primary motivational force in man. ~ Victor Frankl We all constantly deal with an abundance of information, both external and internal. We hear and feel the voices of purpose, anger, sorrow, motivation, greed, joy, fear, hunger, illness, health, intuition, sex – and these are intermingled with a second cacophony of …
Clarity Life Design: 6 Steps to Clarity
Everyone sees the unseen in proportion to the clarity of his heart, and that depends upon how much he has polished it. ~ Rumi Be clear in speech. Clear speech and sincere listening are as essential to one another as giving is to receiving; without one the circuit is broken and what remains is potential rather than realization. Together they lead to …
Personal Integrity, By Definition
But what is happiness except the simple harmony between a man and the life he leads? ~ Albert Camus Integrity is often defined in moral terms but we can also think of it as wholeness or oneness. In this sense, a person of integrity is one in his entire being: his thoughts, emotions, speech, actions and spirit are all in alignment. Many …
Time is Only an Illusion
The distinction between past, present and future is only an illusion, however persistent. ~ Einstein Time is a measure of change. It is like many wonderful inventions that help us better communicate and interact with each other. Law, government, money, space, time and countless other ideas can be useful in making sense of the world, our relationships with each other and life. …
How to Create a Good Relationship
To create love: be true to yourself; know yourself and listen to what your partner is really saying; choose someone you’re attracted to, someone who fits you; know your role in the relationship; make a firm commitment and love actively. Chemistry It helps to be “into each other.” Ask yourself: is this person someone you really want to spend your time …