Healthy Relationships
Here are some good tips for communication from the Healthy Relationship corner:
Speaker Listener Techniques
Rules for the Speaker
- Speak for yourself, don't mind read.
- Keep statements brief. Don't go on and on.
- Stop to let the listener paraphrase.
Rules for the Listener
- Paraphrase what you heard
- Focus on the speaker's message, don't rebut.
Rules for Both
- The speaker has the floor.
- The speaker keeps the floor while the listener paraphrases.
- Share the floor.
These are great tips to remember for all conversations.
Examples of mind-reading:
- I know what you are thinking!
- I know what you said, but what you really mean is...
- When you don't call, it means you don't love me.
This behavior of assuming you know what another person is thinking, maybe even more than they know themselves, is extremely offensive. No one likes to be told what he or she is thinking. There is no way you can know for sure what someone else is thinking unless they tell you. This is where paraphrasing is effective in finding what what the person is really trying to say.
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Mount Sanford Tribal Consortium |
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