Making People Angry

[JP Sears]

Hi Compassionate Communicators (Damn IT! :-)

Perhaps as a random tickling of our thoughts on the topic of communication, I thought I'd share an aspect of compassionate communicating that happens to be on my mind at the moment.

What is it that most easily make a person angry with us?  One answer to this impossible to answer questions is perhaps that when we say something or ask something that threatens the person's sense of who they think they are...That is, their perception of our benign words causes their sense of being threatened.  An example could be, "Do you feel on purpose with your job?"

The real question here is are you and I willing to be the still surface of the lake that will occasionally allow people to see what they don't like about themselves?  And if they start hitting the lake with their words and blaming it for what they see, can you and I do our best to remember how to respond?

Maybe true communication is not about conflict avoidance.  If so, I'd invite you to consider what it is that seems to trigger reactions from others and perhaps be open to keeping those triggers a part of your life (of course if we lose ourselves in the triggers we may consider otherwise).

Wishing everyone a lovely weekend!

JP