Since the dawn of civilization until this very modern day if there has been something that has been constant throughout, which has altered the course of history – it undoubtedly is – The Spoken Word, or put another way – Communication.
To think about it – the greatest revolutions in the world were the result of something said by someone – a Speech, a Communication, weather it was the speech “I have a Dream” by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., which called for an end to racism in the United States and gave dignity to the black people in America or “India’s Tryst With Destiny” by Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru on the eve of the Indian Independence in 1947 which brought Hope to an ever oppressed nation. Every speech or communication has the potent power to alter the course of history.
And don’t we communicate or speak on a daily basis? Imagine a situation where this ability of communication is taken away from you… What then will happen to your life?
Recently, I watched a movie that completely transformed my perception of communication. I used to associate communication only with speaking or telling what we want or don’t want. But this movie challenged my thoughts and dawned on me an even greater reality.
The movie was BARF! Starring Ranbir Kapoor in a mute and deaf role along with Priyanka Chopra whose character is autistic in the movie.
Those of you who have watched the movie would agree with me that although the protagonist did not communicate verbally, his “communication” touched the heart and on a few instances almost brought tears to the eye.
And for those of you who haven’t had the opportunity to watch the movie yet, I highly recommend it. It’s a beautiful movie. It will leave you speechless…
So why am I stressing so much on this movie? No, its not the movie I’m stressing on, it’s the message that it conveys…
That communication doesn’t have to be just verbal. There’s also non-verbal communication, which according to research accounts for 93% when compared to just verbal communication. No wonder BARF! bagged almost all the awards in the year 2002 when it was released.
What we generally see as communication is not truly communication because most times we listen to reply, we listen to give our opinion and we listen but are actually saying – “my point is right”.
Listening is the most crucial part of communication and once we understand this, we then begin to listen to understand, we begin to listen to understand the other persons point of view and we begin to listen to be in communion with the other person because the very word COMMUNICATION has COMMUNE within it.
It is a UNION, or rather COMMUNION between two or more people. That truly is communication.
Weather in Toastmasters or in Life we ought to focus on verbal communication, that part we know, however, there’s the other 93% part – the non-verbal communication – our attitude, our body language, our tone of voice, which actually connects us to our audience. Its:
How PRESENT we are and how much in UNION we are with our audience.
How we listen to how our audience is reacting and respond accordingly with appropriate gestures.
How we effectively vary our tone and use pauses during our speech to driver our message.
So next time we as Toastmasters are giving a speech or playing a role we must ask ourselves:
Am I listening to reply or listening to understand?
Am I listening to give my opinion or am I listening to understand the other person’s point of view?
Am I listening to say my point is right or am I in communion?
Because remember every speech or communication has the potent power to alter the course of history…
The time to cultivate your communication is NOW…
Posted by:
Akash Agarwal,
Secretary