Words of Life

So much of Eric's message today ties into Interpersonal Communication.  He stresses the importance and POWER of the words we speak face-to-face, online, and to ourselves, and that those words need to be words of life rather than words of death.  The power of words spoken face-to-face is another lesson in mindfulness; you need to be aware not only of the messages you are sending, but the effects those words have on others. We talked about in Chapter 1 how communication is irreversible; when words of death are released, they can't be taken back.  We'll get more into the power of the words we use in chapters 5, 7, and 8.  The same goes with the words we use online. Those are irreversible, too. Once someone, anyone, has seen them, they are out there and can't really be deleted or taken back.  But one of the most powerful messages has to do with the words we tell ourselves; that's intrapersonal communication.

    

That ties SO strongly to what we are covering in Chapter 3. How we see ourselves is directly linked to how we speak to ourselves.  In middle school and most of high school, I had really low self-esteem.  I didn't really value myself, at all. Much of that came from other's words to me, which directly affected how I saw myself.  My intrapersonal communication was toxic, hurtful, and sometimes even abusive.  Words of death aren't just the words we speak or communicate to others; those words can be the words we tell ourselves. It's important to surround yourself with people who build you up, and nurish you, not knock you down.  If people see you positively, you'll see youself better. I met my now husband the summer before my senior year. I was just coming out of an abusive relationship, and I really didn't see myself with much value.  My intrapersonal communication wasn't much better than that of my abusive boyfriend. My now husband changed that for me. He reminded me that not all guys are toxic and hurtful, use words of death. He reminded me what real friendship felt like and that I was worth much more than how I saw myself.  He provided me with words of life, and I began to see myself far more positively. I was a very different person my senior year of high school, and I've continued to grow in positive ways ever since. Words of life have a HUGE impact. I know this first had. You don't always end up dating and marrying the person who fills you with words of life, but in my case, I lucked out.

Noise on the Family Dog Walk

Last night, around 5pm, my family chose to take a walk together since the weather was so nice. We didn't get very far before we noticed a lot of flashing lights, sirens, and emergency vehicles. My son was curious and suggested we change from our normal route to a new one to see what was going on.  This is what we encountered:
 http://www.kaaltv.com/news/rochester-motorcycle-crash/4321483/?cat=10151

My son had a hard time communicating with us because he was so distracted by the seen (Psychological noise), but I'm not sure we would have heard him much anyway with the sirens and men directing traffic (Physical noise). I was worried about the motorcyclist involved in the accident as we watched a body be loaded on a stretcher and into the back of an ambulance; I was so worried about that poor person that I completely missed something my husband said to me (Psycholocial noise).

My Physiological Noise Today

I'm sick.  I can't breathe through my nose, my voice is come-and-go, I have a constant tickle in my throat, and when I cough, I don't know when I'll stop.  Because if this, I'm preoccupied with my own miserableness (psychological noise), but because of the congestion, I struggle to hear or speak clearly, so that's my Physiological noise today.  I'm also incredibly tired, due to the illness I'm guessing, which is making it hard to communicate, too. This is more Physiological noise.  I'm hoping after weekend of rest, I'll be back to "normal" come Monday.  I'll do my best not to spread this yuckiness to you, too.

Political Noise

This has been an emotional week for me. I normally keep politics out of the classroom, but I feel that reflecting briefly on the week is not only therapeutically necessary for me, but also a great example of how I have experienced noise this week.  Starting Wednesday morning, I've been overwhelmed by psychological noise.  I'm preoccupied internally by feelings of fear, worry, and concern for others.  I've struggled with articulating these feelings, and to be honest, I felt uncomfortable sharing them with anyone outside of my immediate family and closest friends. Then, this morning, a close friend of mine Facebook messaged me a blog post she had recently read. She knew that I would find a kindred spirit in the author of the post and comfort in her words.

So not only have I been preoccupied by psychological noise this week, tying into Chapter 1 concepts, but also a piece of social media, computer-mediated, mass communication was shared with me that connected on a deeper, more personal level.

I am NOT posting this to start some sort of political debate in the comments. Instead, I'm simply showing how I was touched by a computer-mediated, mass communication piece posted by a stranger but was greatly affected by it.

The blog post, "Written in Love"