What does the word nurture mean to you?
What ways do you nurture feelings in yourself and others in your communication?
Why do you nurture feelings in yourself and others in your communication, or not?
In one of my previous blogs articles, I talked about monitoring feelings. In this article I am talking about nurturing feelings in yourself and others in your communication.
What do I mean by nurture feelings?
How comfortable are you when people share their emotions or how comfortable are you with sharing your own emotions?
When people start to get emotional when talking about a subject, do you start to feel uncomfortable in a way that you change the subject or find an excuse to walk away? Or do you stay and comfort them?
Do you become emotional when you talk about a subject you are passionate about? Or do you remain calm and neutral?
How does the person you communicate with respond when you do become emotional about a subject being discussed?
To nurture feelings means that you are allowing yourself and the other person to feel whatever it is you and others are feeling in a conversation without any judgement.
There is no judgement that the feeling is right or wrong, just accepting that the feeling is there, and allowing it to be there.
You can also think about nurturing feelings in the context of self-care.
This can be by taking care of yourself like choosing healthy activities to help you to de-stress so that you don’t end up aggressively blowing up and emotionally blowing out.
Taking care of yourself also means using kind and gentle words when speaking to yourself and others.
When you or someone else makes a mistake, you are not overly critical, you gently acknowledge that a mistake was made, the solutions to solve the problem, and what can be done next time to avoid making that mistake again.
The key word is gentle. Gentle means that we are not name calling such as using the words “idiot”, “stupid”, “worthless”, or “useless” when talking to ourselves or others. There is no blaming or finger pointing at yourself or at the other person for the mistake that was make. And there is no yelling or screaming at yourself or others.
Afterall, is it necessary to blame or yell? And did it promote a positive and productive outcome?
I’m guessing not.
I’m willing to bet that GENTLE would promote a more positive and productive outcome.
Here are six tips that you can use that might help to nurture feelings and yourself in your communication:
Tip #1 Gracious
Be gracious (kind) with yourself and others especially when mistakes are made.
Tip #2 Expression
Express yourself by using and saying nice constructive words to yourself and others.
Tip #3 Nourish
Nourish yourself with healthy thoughts, food, and activities to help to reduce stress and the feeling of being overwhelmed.
Tip #4 Time Out
Take time out to breathe. Deep/slow diaphragmatic breathing helps to reduce stress, anxiety, and frustration. Breathe in nice and slow and blow out nice and slow…smell the rose and blow out the candle.
Tip #5 Look After
Look after yourself and others. It is okay to take care of and look after yourself before taking care of others. You can only take care of others when you are healthy and well to avoid blow up and blow out.
Tip #6 Empower
Empower yourself and others by accepting and allowing the different emotions and viewpoints in your communication without the judgement of right or wrong.
The next time you are in a communication situation, and you want to nurture feelings and yourself in your communication, just remember to be GENTLE.
Gracious
Expression
Nourish
Time out
Look after
Empower
If you are driven to communicate with confidence, have your messages, be heard and understood, and repair any communication breakdown in your personal communication relationship, then you should take a look at my ebook 5 Strategies For Effective Companion Communication! Grab your free copy by signing up below:
Warm regards,
Grace CW Liu
Communication Navigator
W: GraceSOULutions.com
ABOUT GRACE
Grace CW Liu believes there is a solution to every problem including communication and conversation problems. Everyone can find the solution they seek by using the guidance of grace that is in you, with the grace of spiritual support, and Grace –me– as your Communication Navigator and support system.
My passion is to help sensitive, conflict-phobic, and introverted women have effective communication so they feel valued and heard in any conversation.
Through studying and observations, I’ve realized why communication breakdown occurs and the solutions to solving those problems. I’ve presented these solutions so that communicative partners can achieve effective communication!
