The Art of Communicating

I am listening to this person with only one purpose: to give this person a chance to suffer less.

Nourishing and healing communication is the food of our relationships.

The Internet is an item of consumption, full of nutrients that are both healing and toxic. It’s so easy to ingest a lot in just a few minutes online.

I define happiness as the capacity to understand and to love, because without understanding and love no happiness could be possible.

there’s no need to rush. We always have time for at least one in-breath and out-breath before we pick up the phone or before we press send on a text or e-mail. If we do this, there is a much greater chance that we will be putting more compassionate communication out into the world.

When we listen with compassion, we don’t get caught in judgment. A judgment may form, but we don’t hold on to it.

Breathing in and breathing out is a practice of freedom. When we focus our attention on our breath, we release everything else, including worries or fears about the future and regrets or sorrows about the past.

But a lot of our thinking is caught up in dwelling on the past, trying to control the future, generating misperceptions, and worrying about what others are thinking.

We believe too much in the technologies of communication. Behind all these instruments we have the mind, the most fundamental instrument for communication. If our minds are blocked, there is no device that will make up for our inability to communicate with ourselves or others.

Freedom is the most precious thing there is. It is the foundation of happiness, and it is available to us with each conscious breath.