Mindfulness is becoming more popular than ever — but have you heard of mindful communication? Today, we’ll explore 3 reasons why mindful communication matters and why exactly you should care.
What is mindful communication?
Communication is an extremely important life skill. It drives how you interact with the world around you and influences your relationships, jobs, and ability to achieve goals. Some people are great at communication — they get the point across — while some people are terrible at communication, often causing arguments, misunderstandings or stress. But there’s another type of communication that’s often overlooked — mindful communication. It combines effective communication with the benefits of mindfulness. Mindfulness is the practice of being aware, present, and objective in your current tasks. Along this vein, mindful communication involves a technique of communication where you listen actively while managing your feelings and thoughts.
How it works
When you have a conversation with someone, you’re often listening to them because you’re trying to figure out how to get your ideas across. With mindful communication, you’re going much deeper into this conversation. You’re considering how someone is feeling and why exactly they say what they say — regardless of what you think. You’re also internally communicating with yourself — what do you feel about the conversation? How can you grow from what’s being mentioned or add value? You’re also more aware of your response — how does it sound to the other person? Are you coming off as defensive? At the end of the day, mindful communication is about genuinely wanting to listen to someone and having a healthy conversation with them.
3 reasons to care about mindful communication
#1 You’ll have healthy relationships
When you have genuine conversations with others born out of curiosity, you’re likely to have fewer conflicts and misunderstandings. You can hear their point of view, clarify their thoughts and respond without defensiveness. This skill applies to all your relationships — whether it’s at home or in the office place. With time, mindful communication will help you have stronger, positive relationships.
#2 You’ll grow
Communicating mindfully encourages you to actively listen to others and learn more. It’s through this non-judgemental lens that you’ll learn the most. You can weigh new points of view, become more objective in the face of conflicts, and ultimately become a more empathetic person. That’s huge personal growth and will benefit you for the rest of your life.
#3 You’ll be happier
Needless to say, the benefits above will make you happier. Everyone loves having great relationships and growing as a person. On top of this, mindful communication will make you happier as you better understand yourself. Since it involves this internal aspect of weighing and recognizing your emotions, you’ll learn to deal with your emotions better. You can really understand how you feel and deal with your feelings in a healthy way while holding a respectable conversation. At the end of the day, this skill will help you become a much happier person.
Ready to give mindful communication a go? Start here with our basic guide to mindfulness or begin with a mindfulness tool like a Timeqube today!
