I was struggling with a performance situation once and a therapist told me “Listen to the Behavior.” That was a powerful insight for me in that moment and it also held deeper lessons. One of my favorite growth techniques is to turn something in the external word around and apply in internally: so I asked ‘How does this apply to ME?’ What message is my behavior saying to the world? Am I fully aware of the impact of my actions on others? The message being received? Which is not aways the message one intends to send!
You cannot not communicate. You daily broadcast your beliefs, your values by deeds and words, even by the topics you choose to discuss, just by the tone you speak with. More subtly, the actions you do not take, the kindness you do not offer, the time you should have spoken up but didn’t.
Be who you choose to be but please, please be consciously aware of your choices and the impact of your emotional wake. Are you a better person today than yesterday? Will the world be better for your having lived?
Closing Quotes:
“Behavior is the mirror in which everyone shows their image.” – Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, 1749-1832
“To know what people really think, pay regard to what they do, rather than what they say.” – George Santayana, 1863-1952, essayist, poet, novelist
“The energy I create with my emotions, words and actions has substance… and consequences! … the relational field is real and palpable.” – NSC, b. 1952
“A man’s behavior is the index of the man, and his discourse is the index of his understanding.” – Ali ibn Abi Talib, c. 600-66, cousin and son-in-law of Muhammad
As always, I share what I most want and need to learn. – Nathan S. Collier