1. Communication

2. WHAT IS COMMUNICATION ?  C OMMUNICATION is an exchange of ideas, feelings or meaning between two or more persons.

3. THREE ASPECTS OF COMMUNICATION :  Body Language  Listening  Verbal Language

4. Communication is said to be 55% facial, 38% vocal and 7% verbal. Given our desire to be loved and our need to express ourselves, communication is crucial for relationships. It is an important aspect of being an involved and active Christian.

5. St. Thomas Aquinas noted that communication is essential for all social relations, which unites us to one common end – the universal love of God. In other words, love of God is the very basis of all communication.

6. Avenues and Roadblocks to Communication  To nurture a relationship through communication requires that we have an open mind. The attitude and preconceived ideas that we bring into our interaction with others determines whether they become avenues or roadblocks to verbal communication.

7. Avenues and Roadblocks to Communication continued… AVENUES  TRUST  we act on the assumption that the other person will not hurt us or disappoint us  we do not demand evidence that the other person is trustworthy and will not let us down ROADBLOCKS  SELF - PROTECTION  we insist on seeing evidence that communication will involve no risk before we attempt to relate to another person  we are afraid of how we will be seen  often leads to self-fulfilling prophecy: people stop trying to communicate with us

8. Avenues and Roadblocks to Communication continued… AVENUES  H OPE  we enter into a conversation with someone because we hope it will have a desirable outcome  we don’t however know what the outcome will be ROADBLOCKS  W IN - LOSE A TTITUDE  being right becomes more important than understanding or relating  communication is seen as competitive  we use conversation to establish that we are superior

9. Avenues and Roadblocks to Communication continued… AVENUES  A CCEPTANCE  we need to accept people as they are, in all their uniqueness and specialness ROADBLOCKS  S TEREOTYPING AND J UDGING  any statement which puts someone into a role or category denies their dignity as a person  stereotyping disregards the person’s individuality and judges him/her on the basis of preconceived ideas

10. Avenues and Roadblocks to Communication continued… AVENUES  “I” M ESSAGE  state observation, feelings, thoughts and wishes  they express the speaker’s concern, but they leave the other person free to respond  Ex. When you stop me while I’m speaking, I don’t feel listened to.  “I” messages imply a willingness to take responsibility for one’s own responses ROADBLOCKS  “I” M ESSAGE  state observation, feelings, thoughts and wishes  they express the speaker’s concern, but they leave the other person free to respond  Ex. When you stop me while I’m speaking, I don’t feel listened to.  “I” messages imply a willingness to take responsibility for one’s own responses