ecoTrain Question Of The Week Season 6 #3 - COMMUNE-ICATION

Hello everyone, this is my first entry to the EcoTrain Question Of The Week Season #3 - COMMUNE-ICATION. It is an activity that is organised by the ecoTrain Community. I found the topic to be interesting, hence I am sharing my own understanding of the topic.

COMMUNE-ICATION

Everyone wants to be heard, but is everyone ready to listen?
Most people confuse communicating and talking. These two words seem so similar but they are two very different words. I'm not going to bore you with definitions and explanations (which don't really matter). So I'll just say, speaking words is not the same as sharing ideas with another person. Talking can be more of a one sided thing. You can talk and refuse to listen to the other person's thoughts on the matter. When you just talk, you don't really make much of an effort to listen to the other person's ideas. But you cannot say you're trying to communicate and the other party isn't sharing thoughts with you too (it just means you've got the two words mixed up🙄).

Source

In every relationship (whether platonic or romantic), good communication is key. Notice I said “good communication”. It is not all the time that sharing ideas with someone gives fruitful results. Both parties may still end up misunderstanding each other. So I repeat, GOOD COMMUNICATION is the key to keeping relationships. But this is where most people fail. People want to be listened to but they're not ready to listen to their partners. Good communication goes along with mutual understanding. Getting to understand another person's feelings is like getting to see things (or an issue) from that person's perspective. But you can't understand someone if you don't listen to them. Talking is one of the easiest things to do, but the fact that you can talk doesn't necessarily mean that you are good at listening (the truth is, listening is a very key part in communication). Talking is only a small part of communication.

Some people are just bad at listening, while others just don't talk. There are just some people who will just stare at you when you talk (in this case, such a person is a better listener than a talker). If you truly wish to interact with these kind of persons well, be watching out for the other party's body language (non-verbal communication). By body language I mean, changes in facial expression, sudden or the slightest movements made by the other person, etcetera. I think good communication is all about making an effort to the other person's feelings. As humans, we don't know everything and we definitely don't know what other people might feel when we take certain actions. Everyone gets misunderstood and we can't see things the exact same way another person sees it. So intead of holding grudges why don't we just talk things out,try to see things the way the other person sees it. But then, is it really everyone that's willing to listen?🤷🏿‍♀️ It is one thing to be a great speaker and another to be a good listener. For us to have good communication, we must have both qualities.

Thank you for reading!