Communication - How do you like yours?

Communication plays a huge part in our everyday lives. It influences our relationships at work, at play, with friends, family, even strangers.  There is no doubt that the way we communicate is important, in particular as a way of imparting and receiving information, ultimately influencing what we give and receive out of life.

The subject of communication is of course very comprehensive but for today I will be brief. My aim is to get you thinking, if only for a moment about the way you communicate, how do you like to share and exchange this valuable commodity.

​A positive, great, mediocre or negative communicative experience has the power to leave you anywhere on the scale between feeling absolutely amazing and the complete opposite end leaving you feeling low and lacklustre.
 
How much effort do you make in your daily communication? Speaking, writing, or otherwise?
How do you like your communication best served?
How important is effective communication to you?
 
I have a thing, in that I really enjoy listening to others and how they communicate when speaking with each other, some might call it eavesdropping but I like to call it curiosity or research.

​Some like to:

• Give and not receive
• Ask and not answer
• Listen to reply rather than truly listen,
• Have a juicy dialogue
• Gossip
• Just make it through the day
• Listen and also be heard
• Assume and not clarify
• Hear their own voice
• Hear the voice of others
• Talk with strangers
• Understand and be understood

Some are:

• Effective influencers and leaders through their use of communication
• Really passionate about their conversations

Some can:

• Charm the birds from the trees with their spoken word

Some have:

• The gift of the gab

Some just:

• Want to tell a story
• Want to tell their story

​
How effective or ineffective is your style of communication?  Is it something you’ve ever thought about or are you happy to go with the flow? If I ask you to reflect what you heard during your last conversation what would you tell me?
 
Communication is important for us to understand and to be understood.  In our day to day lives, where we spend so much time behind technology, it’s important not to lose this wonderful skill of being able to communicate effectively. 

​Is it time to brush up on your communication skills?  Whether it’s conversing, in the written form or even your body language understanding and being understood can support you in feeling great about yourself and helping someone else to also feel great about themselves.  Let’s pay more attention to our communication and if need be brush up on our skills.