Blog Post 1 - Madeline Grsick

Four years ago I first learned about what compassionate communication was, and I was awestruck. Finally, something to tell me what was really going on all around me, putting a name to the things that I so desperately strived to define. Compassionate communication is something that I have taken to heart, making it a goal of mine to incorporate as many skills as possible into my daily life. Over the years I feel as though compassionate communication has helped me become a better person as well as a better student. One of the things that intrigues me the most is the difference between listening and hearing. When I first studied compassionate communication I had no idea what the term meant nor that there was a difference between listening or hearing.

Listening is more that just hearing someone, it is actively engaging in the conversation, giving your opinion while being able to understand where the other person is coming from as well. Listening means to dissect the words that are being said into tiny little pieces so that our brains can interpret them. Listening is understanding the nonverbal cues that the speaker is projecting out as well as knowing what your own non verbals mean. Listening is understanding how there are so many different sources of noise but working your way around it to help understand the other person’s point better. Listening is not as easy as we all think, but with work it can be one of the most valuable tools we have.

This brings me into the sentence that stood out the most to me so far this semester, from chapter four, Compassionate Communication with the pitfalls of Dialogic Listening being describe. The Curator’s Exhibition is the pitfall that truly stood out to me the most, as described by Conquergood as “The manifest sin of thes quadrant is Sensationalism, and it is an immoral stance because it dehumanizes the other.” What stood out to me the most was the idea that we may want to listen or even try to listen but without understanding both sides of a conversation we are not truly listening or understanding what is being said. When our focus is on the differences of each other then we are less likely to find a solution or the ability to understand where the other person is coming from. I feel like this quote is a good way to describe our current government system and the entire attitude of the nation. If we are not able to genuinely listen to what is being said and try to understand the other side of view on topics then we are dehumanizing our peers. As we begin to focus on the differences of our peers and not the similarities the opportunities for compassionate communication begin to dwindle. I think that the skills of Compassionate Communication not only encourages genuine understanding but it helps to build a bond between individuals.