Starting Things Off...

A couple days ago I felt moved to change my Facebook status. I typed, "John wants to write a book." Then, after getting two thumbs up, I thought I'd be a little more specific: "John wants to write a book on relationships and communication." I've felt this way for some time and collected mental notes over the last few years. It's time I start seriously thinking about this book.

All my life, I've been intrigued by how people relate with each other. As a kid, I found myself observing my friends interact to gain insight into the world around me. I preferred learning from other people's mistakes before I made my own. I've learned a lot and gained a lot of personal experience. I've learned how to do and say things on my own, making decisions without any knowledge of what the outcome may be. But I've learned to be cautious.

Why be cautious? Because the hardest thing in life to do is communicate. We do it every day, yet it seems most people still have trouble with it. It's one of the first things we learn to do when we're born. Hungry? Try crying. Hey, look at that! You're getting fed... As we grow, we learn there are different ways to convey what we are thinking. If you're into fine arts, you may learn how to communicate with colors, or sound, or movement. There's verbal and non-verbal communication, but what I'm most interested in is verbal. There are so many words in the English language. It can be so descriptive, yet so constricting at the same time. Sometimes you just can't come up with the right words to use. And sometimes we use words the wrong way.

Getting back to my Facebook status. Though I have my fair share of experience in relationships, I've gained most of my knowledge as a friend: a third party interpreter, mediator, and observer of numerous relationship issues and failures. These relationship issues, with the exception of a few, were all due to a failure in communication.

In this blog I would like to share examples of how quickly communication can become MIScommunication. I'll share my thoughts on how to avoid these situations. But I invite questions, personal experiences of success and failure, and thoughts on the subject of communication. Feel free to email me! If you I can, I'll address your email (without including names). This will serve as research for my book and a way to start collecting my thoughts.

I hope you're as excited about this process as I am!