Comfort food such as mashed potatoes, gravy and meatloaf reminds me of goodness, a dependable meal of solid kindness. Similarly, a conversation can be packed with goodwill reminiscent of homemade apple pie your sweet grandmother likes to serve.
Thoughtful conversation ultimately means taking a “heart to heart” exchange to heart! There’s no beauty greater than one true heart sharing with another. I’m not referring to first love romance. Rather appreciating the conversation every time and aligning the dialog with our values, no matter the circumstances!
Here are a few ways you might bolster sincerity.
- Start with a clear mind. Check in with your heart. Do a gut check.[1] If you need to arrive a little early to sit quietly, do so, too. Breathe in and out and relax. Approach the conversation with a peaceful spirit.
- Let go off attachment to a specific outcome. Yes, have an agenda so that there’s order to a meeting and it’s “productive”. Yet, let the conversation move where it’s suppose to without heavily directing it toward one outcome or another. Often the first idea is not the best anyway.
- Encourage participation. Reflect back what you’ve heard. Always express gratitude for attendees’ willingness to share.
Stand in goodness. Be clear on your intention to affirm and appreciate other team members, even those with whom you disagree. When we reach out and touch one another from a place of goodness, our worlds expand.
Happy Heart, Happy Conversation!
“Can Any Beauty Match This?”[2]
When the sun within speaks, when love
Reaches out its and and places it upon
Another,
Any power the stars and planets might
Have upon us,
Any fears you can muster can become so
rightfully insignificant.
What one heart can do for another heart,
Is there any beauty in the world that can
Match this?
Brotherhood, sisterhood, humanity becomes
The joy and the emancipation..
– Sufi poet, Hafiz
Year of Confab 2017
#25 How do you center yourself ahead of a meeting?
[1] ”Head, Heart, Gut Check In” exercise presented at the Search Inside Yourself (SIY) training for managing emotions and developing self-awareness.
[2] A Year With Hafiz: Daily Contemplations by Daniel Ladinsky; Penguin Books, 2011
