Week #321 – Back to Basics: Stay Connected! (Even in conflict!)
Greetings Tribe — and Happy Election-Week-Friday to you all!
It feels like everyone, everywhere, is holding their collective breath…waiting for a decision on this week’s election.
It’s all anyone can talk about.
But today I remembered that many of us lived through this in 2000. Long before we had Facebook and Twitter in our pockets…we waited for OVER a month (it was December 13th!) to find out who our next President would be.
And you know what happened in that time? A lot of life!
The word “connect” brought me back to my post on March 27th of this year…just as we were heading into full shutdown. And now here we are…seven months later, and my thoughts are just about the same, especially at this time of conflict:
Posts, tweets, texting and GIF’s might communicate our thoughts…but they don’t CONNECT us. We need to see people, to look at their faces, to hear their voices, and feel their spirit. Our body language, voices, and verbal communication skills are still so important.
There are many statistics that argue how much of communication is verbal versus physical…I’ll leave that to you to Google this morning. Most agree that more than half of our communication is in body language alone. And even more is in other non-verbal cues.
But we don’t need a study to know that. Anyone who’s ever lived or worked with another human being long enough knows: it’s not always what we say, but HOW we say it — in tone, body posture, and a little eye-roll here and there!
Even in conflict, a soft voice or relaxed body posture lets others know we’re not in it for the fight…we’re in it for the resolution.
Its a good reminder that Happyness isn’t spread by big effort or rocket-science…it’s in the most basic of communication. And it’s ours for the giving…any time…free of charge. Especially at a time such as this. We just need to count to four:
Your Happyness Challenge for the Week Ahead: BACK TO BASICS! It’s very easy to shrink back from others in fear (like in March) or in conflict (like now) — or skip the basics and get right into the issues that are top of mind right now (there are SO MANY just to name ONE!). 😀 While both instincts are certainly valid — they aren’t always the things that connect us. (And in some cases, they might actually threaten to divide and separate us.) So as you continue to keep yourself safe AND sane — remember to CONNECT with those you encounter.
Just count to four: smile, wave, say hello, and ask “How are you doing?”
Spread Happyness — Stay Connected!
11/6/20 by Grace Church
© Grace Church
grace@spreadhappyness.com