Communicate

"Communicate, communicate, and then communicate some more."
- Bob Nelson

This article first appeared in February 2011 and has been one of my more popular posts with nearly three thousand having read it. And six years later it still feels very appropriate for the time. The rise of social media means we are talking in thirty second sound bites. In fact we are yelling at each other in the form of all capital letters, memes and exaggerated news.

The louder and more outrageous is what wins people and elections. The more left or the more right we swing, the more bold of opinion we become. We become more convinced of our own position by either bible thumping conservatives or bleeding heart liberals. You see the label we put on people is easier then exploring the depth because we just might learn something different.

Can we just talk?

You see I can be just as much of the problem as the next blogger, tweeter, Facebook posting person of all ages. I poke and prod people just as they have over the past eight years. And as we did the previous eight years, so on and so forth. And did we really talk to each other or reinforce our own position and allow the middle ground to sink further? The gap widens between us more and more.

Why is communicating with each other so important? Because those who would want to see us destroy ourselves do not want us to. They see the corrosive nature of miscommunication over time. It decays the fabric of who we are more then bombs or violent acts. We do that enough to ourselves, all our enemies need to do is push us against each other and we will take care of the rest.

What was that article I wrote?

Here it is, four sentences that generated so much reading. But can we turn it into action and build back up the ground between us? Can be begin to talk to each other in a meaningful way and loosen our grasp on ourselves so that we can embrace with a handshake and conversation.

It happens to each of us, a situation comes up between two or more people and feelings get hurt or misunderstandings arise. One person thought the other knew something or another didn't give the whole story.

The problem normally is caused by a lack of communication. Its a pure and simple explanation for many of the problems that occur in our life. The lack of communication could be intentional and at other times inadvertent.

But in the end, if we just keep talking to each other we'll avoid many of the misunderstandings that get in the way of a great life.

Keep talking, keep communicating and life will be a whole lot easier. Can you hear me now?!

Stay inspired my friends!