Effective Communication: It All Begins with Your Mindset

Right Communication It’s All About the Way You Think

Do you think mental hygiene is important for one’s health and progress? How do you feel about interpersonal communication skill seminars and similar ones? No matter your agenda on these topics, you can’t deny that they all have a purpose. That purpose is to upgrade our social skills, teach us how to communicate properly, and expand our social circle.

Surely you’re aware that these things are important in life and that they determine, in a way, how successful a person is. If you’re not quite ready to attend a seminar or group training regarding effective communication skills, you’ve come to the right place, as here you will get a taste of the lessons taught there.

Listen Before You Speak

Whenever you’re about to start a conversation important to you (although every conversation should be important as there is always something new to learn), the first thing you should do is focus on listening. You can’t have a quality conversation with anyone if neither of you listens. Suppose both parties only want to express their feelings and thoughts about a particular topic instead of listening to one another. In that case, the conversation won’t head in any direction.

You’ll both say what you wanted to say, and after that, there won’t be anything to add to keep the conversation going. Instead, focus on hearing your communication partner and what they have to say. This way, you won’t have difficulty figuring out what to say next as you’ve already processed what they’ve said, so you’ll automatically start thinking in that direction.

Maintain Eye Contact

Every conversation should start with eye contact. You can’t expect anyone to be interested in what you have to say if you are talking face down or looking the other way every time they address you. By maintaining eye contact while talking, you’d create a sense of trust and increase the quality of that conversation from the very start.

The person you’re talking to will have more than words to absorb and therefore have a chance to understand your sentences fully. The eyes can reveal much more than what the person is trying to express in sheer words. They can convey emotions more effectively than words. Have you ever heard of the expression eyes are the mirror of the soul? Well, if you haven’t thought about it for a second. Next to conveying feelings and emotions, the eyes can also show what’s hidden deep within the mind.

Many mental health professionals know this and focus on it during their hypnotherapy sessions which are becoming increasingly popular nowadays. This type of therapy has shown results with people suffering from various minor but also major disorders like depression and manic depression, eating and sleeping disorders, and people with other problems, phobias, etc. It’s important to work on these issues before the matter goes beyond the reach of a modern psychiatrist.

Pay Attention to Body Language

You’ve probably heard this before, but 55 percent of communication is based on body language alone. Our stance, hand movement, and gesticulation reveal much more than words. It is believed that only 7 percent of any message is conveyed through words. Therefore, if you really want to master communication skills and learn more about the person you’re talking to, you should invest some time into learning about gesticulation and what certain hand movements mean in conversation. You’d be surprised to see what you can learn if you only take a few hours and read a book about it.

Try Not to Interrupt Too Much

No one likes to be interrupted. But have you ever asked yourself why? The problem is not that you were interrupted mid-sentence but that the person you’re talking to isn’t really listening or doesn’t think much about your ideas and how you think. Otherwise, they wouldn’t interrupt you. So, before you even think about interrupting someone while they are stating a point, make sure you have a solid reason for it and apologize for interrupting. This way, you will show that you care about what they say, and hopefully, they won’t mind.

Communication is an important aspect of our lives, and we can’t progress unless we express our ideas and get confirmation on what is stated. Therefore it’s always important to work on our social skills and explore the topic as much as possible.