Misunderstanding...

Misunderstandings often occur amongst us. It's only human to misinterpret what's been communicated to us. There are many a times when we try to say something, but it gets read as something else. I'm sure all of you out there have had such experiences at least once in a while. It's inevitable.

Our methods of communications are far from perfect. We transmit perhaps less than a quarter of what we actually intend to communicate over to the receiver. The rest of it, is up to the intepretation of the person listening to us. Thus, it makes things so much easier to be misintepreted by a person who assumes things to be differently from the source of the information.

Now, this being the case, put in the factor of entropy. What are the chances that that other person thinks totally on the same line as you? About a billion to one if you ask me. You may both see things on vaguely the same par, but there's always that minute difference in both your fields of vision.This, is the first factor that refracts and twists the information that is being communicated between two people.

Next comes the second factor in the prism of distortion of truth. Only a minute percentage of what we communicate is through word of mouth. The rest of it is absorbed through our body language and such. How do we know that our body is saying the same thing our mouth is? Because if it doesn't, then there's going to be a lot of confusion between what's being communicated by the mouth and body.

Confusion and misconception go hand in hand. They can be the cause for so many problems within our lives. Misunderstandings between friends and lovers lead to broken relationships. Unchecked body language can lead to fights. Much of the unexpected could be caused by a lack of communication on the parts of both the giver and receiver.

So how do we avoid making these mistakes? Answer's pretty obvious. First of all, Listen. The more listen, the more you can catch. Secondly, avoid assumptions. Once you assume, you become as narrow minded as a fanatic. Funneling out all other options and focusing on one. This limits and filters the converstaion so much so that you only hear what you wish to hear. That, my friend, is not communication. It's far from it. Keeping the conversation nice and slow will give you a greater chance of catching a greater gist of what's being told to you. Only in silence can you hear the most subtle of sounds. And last of all, if you're not sure or you don't understand, ask. Even if you have to ask a billion times, ask. This keeps confusion from reigning over the conversation and thus keep misunderstandings to a bare minimum.

So, slow down. Listen. There's a lot for us to hear. It might just save us a lot of trouble.