A friend of mine misunderstood me. He took whatever I had to say the wrong way and just snapped back at me. The conversation was heated up even before I had a chance to convey my message clearly. I wonder if he is going to be alright now or if he is going to reciprocate with some other action.
Communication amongst loved ones is the most crucial aspect of keeping up with relationships. Different words mean different things depending on the situation a person is in, their mental condition, their level of maturity on the subject spoken about, the closeness of that person to the other, the attitude of the person speaking, body language, number of words spoken, amount of time spent on a particular subject, language and most of all the subject sensitivity.
1. Situation calls for majority of the meanings driven from a word. When someone is in a bad situation, depending on that situation they react to others’ words. At these times, what others say influence us greatly. We are already feeling bad, and when the other person says or tells us something in regard to our problem we may take it the wrong way. This happens because we are on the receiving end. If it was a good situation, we are in a jolly mood and we don't see the faults in the other person's comments.
2. When a person is depressed about something, no matter what anyone says, it will sound negative. It is not because they cannot understand what is spoken but they choose not to let it sink. Simple things like coming home from work could trigger an irritating situation if someone is saying something to you. I know when I came home I didn't want to listen to anyone or a single word out of the kids' mouths for a while until I had a cup of tea and relaxed.
3. When we speak out thoughts to someone, we expect them to understand what we mean. But that person has to be on the same level of understanding to at least grasp the situation we are in. Some people sit and ask questions or lay out their concern in a practical way to be sensitive to our situation. But for some, discussing our problems somehow put them above us on a pedestal. So they think they can say anything they want to say and hurt us in the process. They don't actually understand the subject matter or are incapable of getting our point to come even close to discussing it.
4. I have some close confidantes like my sister, my best friends, my brother and my sons. But what I express to them depends on how close they are to me when it comes to a subject. There are some things I could trust my sister with but I cannot tell her certain other things. There are some issues I could discuss with my brother or kids but there are some I could only go to my best friends with. Subjects vary, words vary, meanings vary. If I convey some things in my mind to my kids that I am actually supposed to entrust my friends with it could be a disaster.
5. We see people talking in lines at the cinemas, restaurants, parking lots, offices and parks. Most of the time we can figure out if people are having a pleasant conversation or if it’s a tense situation dependent on their body language. We can make out whether someone is angry or happy with the person that they are speaking to. People's attitudes toward a spoken subject and their body language speak volumes of how feelings or ideas are communicated. The outcomes of the feelings related sometimes make or break relationships.
6. Sometimes the fewer words spoken and the less time spent on a particular subject, the better it is. When people spend too much time discussing a problem, the point is lost somewhere in between. Emotions rise, words fly, fists raise and the situation becomes ugly. No matter what we do after that to mend fences, it doesn't matter. The more we listen, the more we believe. Our brains will be washed with too many words and diminish our thinking and decision-making ability. Our lives become influenced with what others have to say; sometimes it could be devastating to us to the extent where we might never recover.
Human beings have the greatest ability of spoken language. How we use this art of language could greatly affect us in our lives. If we are careful in how we use our words, we could make this whole world a happy family because, OUR LIFE MATTERS.