How often are you saying something with your words and communicating something entirely different with your tone, your inflection, your eyes, and your movements in that moment? Using words is only a small part of communicating. Often words are the least important part of the conversation.
When we remember that we are the vessel for connecting and communicating with one and other, then we remember how to step into the conversation and really connect.
Thich Nhat Hanh expresses, “Sometimes your joy is the source of your smile, but sometimes your smile can be the source of your joy.” Using our body as well as our words to communicate enriches the conversation between ourselves and others we connect with. Many people these days are rushing around talking without communicating. Speaking words without conveying thoughts. Hearing the words of others without listening.
No wonder we feel disjointed and out-of-sync with ourselves and our lives...
When we step off the rushing whirling merry-go-round of life and tune into our conversation then we begin to really connect.
Children understand how to put all of themselves into their conversations. They pick up very quickly when what your words are saying do not match the rest of your body language. The disconnect between your verbal language and the rest of your conversation with them is confusing and often gives them signals to mistrust what you are saying. Animals communicate with us beautifully because they don't hide behind words. Instead they communicate with their whole being. Its unmistakable what they are conveying to us and it teaches us how to communicate completely with our words.
Begin to communicate with your whole being again. Get back into the habit of really communicating by starting with the conversations you have with yourself. Then have some real connections with animals. Then take reawakened communication skills within you and start to connect and communicate with other people you meet in your day. Children will gravitate to you because they will be so excited to see an adult who is open to really communicating with their whole being.
I watched a short clip on the traveling show, Cavalia, founded by Normand Latourelle. In the piece Sylvia Zerbini, shows us how a Spirited Woman connects and communicates with her Arabian horses so that they can then communicate with the audience in a way that transcends the spoken word and reaches deep into the soul.
Take a moment to watch. Then think about what you want to communicate each time you have a conversation or a connection with someone else and how you can bring your whole being into the conversation again.
BZ Riger www.artofallowingmindset.com, www.internetradiowithjuice.com
Click here for more of BZ's posts.
Thank you BZ for this post. You are right on target. In fact a huge problem for most of us is that we listen on a very superficial level - always concerned about what we're going to say next, or how what the other person just said affects us. When we listen, with all of our attention on the speaker and not on ourselves, we show up so much more present and authentic - and it shows the speaker our respect. When we do this, our own communication becomes so much more congruent. Great post.
Posted by: Jeffrey Levine | November 04, 2009 at 07:46 PM