Is it still called communication when all you do is talk – and all the other person does is “hear”? I won’t even refer to it as “listen” because once it is one-way, everything just switches off on the other end – it is no longer a transaction.
I can clearly recall from my student days that even then – in order to pass a test – one had to remember that the main aspect of communication is relationship-building. What more now, when there is not a test at stake but a relationship.
A while ago, someone rhetorically asked me: “At any given time, would you rather be talking or thinking”; and right then, I was immediately tempted to talk. But then I realized quickly the intention of the question so instead I quickly went into thinking mode.
Before you utter a word, ask: “what kind of a relationship am I building?”; or else in Mahatma Gandhi’s words: “speak only if it improves upon the silence.”
The same words cross my mind now as I listen to BRMC’s lyrics:
Help yourself don’t say a thing
Your substance won’t show in anything at all
If all you do is talk
Black Rebel Motorcycle Club
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