Baruch's Blog

Communication. We are about to enter one of this year's four periods of Mercury Retrograde, which means the planet Mercury is moving away from us effecting electronics, machinery, communications, scheduling and timing...some people believe in this stuff, some people don't.

Communication is a huge part of my life and I think all of our lives. Most of my work life has involved communication through speech and writing with other humans. Words. I think I am pretty good at using words to convey meaning. I have always found that it takes a great deal more intention and more words to accurately convey my thoughts than I would instinctually use, so I am very often engaged in the exercise of translating my own internal shorthand into a form that others can hopefully receive with my message intact. It's easier with writing because I can take my time, edit, proofread, but speaking with people is different. There is no editing once a thing has been spoken.

In this time of political uprising, communication is critical to effective constructive change. I encounter, over and over, people working for the same things but slowed down or stymied by ineffective communication. Often it seems that emotional reactivity is what's skewing the communication. That's the thing I find myself working on perpetually. And I see the same thing in others.

Here's to mindful communication!