Let's Talk About It

"Let your conversation be always full of grace,

seasoned with salt,

so that you know how to answer everyone."

Colossians 4:6

Came across a Ted Talk the other day that struck me as powerful in its simplicity. In about ten minutes, Celeste Headlee, an American radio journalist, author, public speaker, and co-host of a weekly series on PBS with 20 years of experience, lays down "10 Ways to Have a Better Conversation."

I'll leave the link at the bottom so you can take a look at it yourself. Well worth the time in my opinion, but will leave that to you.

Since communication is so important to me, and I am always, always striving to do this better, in various forms and forums, Headlee's focus on some of the basic attitudinal transactions within every conversation give me plenty to think about.

This one I love.

"Assume you have something to learn."

Every person, she reminds us, knows something you don't. In every conversation, there's something someone can teach you.

I love the humility and honesty of that. I love how it switches the focus from how I might want to impress someone (come on, we all do this all the time, so much so they have a name for it: Image Management) to how I might want to let them impress me (what a concept!). I love the connectivity of this, the curiosity, the way it opens up more possibilities relationally. The opportunity it brings to encourage and lift up the other.

And, in fact, I've found this to be true. Especially and particularly when I'm engaging with people who are very different from me. Different lifestyles, different cultures, different political opinions, different theologies.

There's just so much to learn out there, and every person we come across has something that could enrich us. Hopefully, if the conversation goes well and there's the balance of back-and-forth, we just might enrich them too.

Every day the news depicts a world deeply divided. Is it too simplistic to believe that perhaps we'd be more united if we just knew how to have better conversations?

So on this very rainy Tuesday morning - when I'm NOT out walking - I wish you a day full of fabulous conversations.

Can't wait to see what new things we can learn today.

And how that might bring us closer.

10 Ways to Have Better Conversations