Hope and it will happen!
The year 2020 has been one of unique challenges and stressors for the entire world. All of us have been committed towards battling this pandemic to ensure our safety and the safety of everyone around us. In this process, many of us have been away from our family and friends, and encountered various other stressful challenges and emotions. Despite all the hardships and stressors of this year, 2020 has also taught us some very important lessons. ‘One of the most important lessons we learned this year is the importance of maintaining existing social relationships as well as forging new ones.’ For some of us, meeting new people and developing new social relationships can be a daunting task. However, with a little more practice and developing the right skills, this task can be a lot less intimidating than it seems. One of the key skills through which we can all become experts in our social relationships is the ability to communicate in a healthy and effective manner. But what exactly is ‘healthy’ or ‘effective’ communication and what does it look like?
Effective communication is characterized by a connection between people that allows for the exchange of thoughts, feelings, and ideas, and leads to mutual understanding. We need to understand our own feelings, thoughts and then in turn those of others. In order for it to be healthy, we must lay aside our defence tendencies (communicate without becoming angered or agitated) and accept responsibility for our side of the exchange and our part in the relationship. There are three key qualities which mark healthy communication and practicing these can allow one to develop the ability to communicate more effectively.
Some ways you may build effective communication:
● Listen actively to the verbal and non-verbal cues
o It involves good physical posture, gestures, and purposeful eye contact.
o You may lean towards the sender or receiver, maintain active eye contact, posture your body in an open form, and be relaxed while nonverbally communicating.
o Active Listening also reflects verbal or nonverbal communication that is intended to be communicated
● Reflect on your thoughts and paraphrase when talking to someone
o Reflective listening reinforces that you have been actively listening to the collocutor. Its purpose is to mirror and clarify communication that you have received.
o It is through reflective listening that the person can feel heard, acknowledged and fully recognized for the value of the words they have offered.
o Through reflective listening, the communicator can be reassured that what they have communicated has been clearly comprehended by the receiver. Paraphrasing, repeating or rephrasing and reflection of feeling are all strategies of reflective listening.
● Understand what is happening and how it is making you feel. This is the most important of the 3 abilities to be an effective communicator.
○ Personal insight is the willingness to confront our behaviors, consequences, and choices in life. It is the ability to acknowledge our personal limitations and strengths, without being boastful or arrogant.
○ Personal insight goes beyond the acceptance of our role in a relationship, it is a reflection of our inward acknowledgement of self.
○ In any social relationship, it is vital that we acknowledge our own contribution to that relationship. If we have done wrong, we should acknowledge our mistakes seeking to rectify any problems that may have developed. If we have been wronged, we should not seek to solve our problems with negativity rather seek to offer forgiveness and acceptance of those who have wronged us.
Having looked at what healthy communication is, let’s look at a fun and interesting activity through which you can develop the skills for healthy communication. We believe understanding what’s happening within us is the first step towards healthy communication. Let’s take the first step to understand ourselves this year.
We hope this aided you towards taking the 1st step towards effective communication in the new beginning!
Apply to our Campus Ambassador Program for expression to be an effective communicator:
Heart to Art is creating Campus Ambassadors for Expression to create youth who are able to express freely and creatively!
Would you like to be an expression ambassador?
Are you the one who everyone comes to with their problems?
Or are you the one wanting to be that person?
Does understanding others come naturally to you?
Become the emotion wellness ambassador at your campus!
This will be a reflective and fun filled learning journey !
Register here - Join our Campus Ambassador what’s app group for updates !
Unlock your magic with Heart to Art by Vriti Bajaj!
This blog has been Conceptualised Parth Bhatnagar and Vidushi Puri our youth bloggers and Vriti Bajaj.
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References
Healthy Communication - Asa Don Brown - https://www.ccpa-accp.ca/healthy-communication/
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