The Puzzle
Personal mastery is a matter of slowly adding pieces to the puzzle. There will always be questions, but if you adhere to the pillars of conscious communication, your answers will become better and more healthy. For example, consider the following:
- How empathic should we be in the midst of a disagreement?
- What is the caring thing to say when a tense subject is raised in difficult circumstances?
- How can we respond empathically when someone angrily attacks us?
- And if we want our children to refrain from violence and confrontation, how specifically should we guide them to respond when they find themselves faced with the same?
- Furthermore, and just as importantly, how can we share our joys and hopes in ways that foster compassion?
- And lastly, if you think that care and compassion has no place in the workplace, please ask yourself what you are afraid of.
The Practice
If you are truly driven to elevate your impact and are tired of harmful power dynamics that arise during stressful moments at work and home… If you aren’t just interested, but are also committed to creating healthier interactions where blame, shame, guilt and fear are minimized, and performance and empowerment are at the forefront… Then, turn your attention to reducing harmful conversations and restoring healthy conversations.
Conscious communication is not just about language. It is deep awareness of how your thoughts lead to your choices. Your choices then lead to your actions and your actions lead to the results. See how that works? In essence, your thoughts directly lead to the results you achieve.
When you have a deep desire to transition from conflict to understanding, conscious communication will provide you with extraordinary results. It excites me so much to watch people go from a reactive/defensive approach to an authentic approach where they feel heard and understood.
As you integrate more conscious communication practices, you start listening for thoughts/language that:
- Move people away from the intention to connect, human to human
- Cause defensiveness
- Create a reason for people to drop their defenses and keep their minds, ears and hearts open to what you have to say
