Communication: MASTERING THE ART OF COMMUNICATION

Communication is your door to financial wealth, loving relationships, and all that is good in life. Communication is the most talked about and least understood area of human behavior. Our ability to communicate in so many ways is unique to humans on earth. People who do not have the ability to speak can be wonderful communicators. The loss of one or two senses certainly can impair communication, but it does not have to stop communication. Effective communication is rarely taught and even more rarely learned in our society. What follows is an outline of a few of the many keys to mastering the art of communication. Superior communication skills are unquestionably vital to living a life by your own design.

BASIC COMPONENTS OF COMMUNICATION

Realizing that everything that is said, heard, seen and felt is filtered through at least two people's experiences, biology and genetics is important in understanding...why misunderstandings are more common than understanding.

Today, I'll show you an effective way to work through the muddle of past experiences and negative emotional triggers.

Interpersonal communication includes at least the following elements:

1. A transmitter. Someone who wants to "send" a message verbally or non-verbally to someone else.
2. A receiver. Someone who will "receive" a message from another person.
3. A message. Information in some form.
4. Noise. Anything that interferes or causes the deletion, distortion or generalization of the exact replication of information being transmitted from the mind of the transmitter to the mind of the receiver.
5. Feedback. Both the sender and receiver constantly elicit verbal and nonverbal feedback to the other person.
6. Replication. The duplication of understanding in one person that is in the mind of another person. Replication is an approximate goal and philosophically not perfectly possible, though desired.
7. Understanding. An approximation of what the message means to the sender by the receiver.

Excellent communication is the ability to transmit a message by the sender to a receiver and have that message replicated in the receiver's mind. Excellent communication is the ability to receive a transmitted message by the sender and have the receiver be able to replicate the form and intent of the message in the receiver's mind. If the receiver is uncertain about some aspect of a communication, it is the responsibility of the receiver to clarify the communication through the artful use of questions. The transmitting communicator also accepts the responsibility for the result of a communication. This means the transmitter must be certain to code a communication so it is received in a manner that is understandable to the receiver.

All of this is of no consequence if a person is uncomfortable in the communication process to begin with.

Do you ever feel uncomfortable communicating with people in "one on one" setting? If so, you will benefit from the following exercises which are designed to help ease discomfort in one on one situations. Please ask a friend to help you.

To Be Continued...