A New Approach to our Everyday Interactions: Generative Communication
June 23, 2021
A Radical New Communication Mindset: Co-Creating Life Together
November 10, 2021
Generative Communication is grounded in a revolutionary new way of thinking about human communication. It stands on the science of complex interactions occurring within the vast web of life on the planet. And is strengthened by a philosophy of conscious awareness, self-empowerment, and self-accountability that recognizes the astonishing co-creative power—and untapped potential—of our human interactions.
I’ve identified five interrelated portals that give entry into a Generative Communication mindset. Each has underlying keys that unlock NEW ways of communicating. Together, they offer an exciting new approach to our everyday interactions. The corresponding keys provide access to a deeper understanding of how we can begin to practice Generative Communication in our own interactions.
The portals and keys are presented as actions because you can’t just read about them. We must deliberately enter a new way thinking and communicating to find new, undiscovered territory, rich with color, intrigue, and unimagined possibilities.
Dance with the Rhythms of Change
Embrace Complexity
Complexity describes an emerging view of reality in real time. It’s characterized by continuous movement, combining order and randomness through interdependent interactions among parts of a whole. As if by magic, patterns emerge from a rhythmic repetition and symmetry; similar, yet never quite the same.
Embracing complexity and recognizing the importance of trying to understand the patterns of life as they are happening, is foundational for a Generative Communication mindset.
We must surrender illusions that we can control a fixed reality. Instead, we can choose to dance with the rhythms of change as we acknowledge shifts in our existence; allowing resistance and old patterns to become positive forces of change within the web of life.
Stay Awake
Pay attention! There are things going on all around us that we don’t want to miss. We can’t take in all the stimuli that bombards our senses at every moment, but we can help ourselves take note of far more than we realize.
We all depend on our five physical senses for taking in information. Meanwhile, our intuition, the sixth sense, is often dismissed by our rational minds. We must rediscover and nurture our intuitive knowing and count it as valuable source of information. Consciously expanding our awareness of visible and invisible information leads to a deeper understanding of our circumstances thus enabling Generative Communication.
Ask Questions
The larger the island of the known, the longer the shoreline of the unknown. There is so much yet to learn. Follow your curiosity and begin thinking in questions.
The world around us is changing every moment and what we think we know today may be obsolete tomorrow. We must rise to the challenge, continue to question, and learn amid change.
Scrutinize our assumptions, justifications, and acculturated dogmas. Look for evidence to support our beliefs—and the proclamations of others. Ask questions with others and investigate new ways of thinking about things. Pick up rocks, scratch surfaces, listen and learn as you jointly determine what is likely to be true in the present.
Welcome the Struggle
Diversity is the lifeblood of a healthy ecosystem. The same is true for healthy human communities. Be willing to explore differences in ideologies, backgrounds, beliefs, and opinions as characteristics of healthy diversity. Acknowledge that each of us has a unique perspective and resist being blinded by our own lifeview.
Understand that the tension produced in the dynamics of difference and disagreement is a powerful source of energy. Respectfully and honestly engaging with our differences, and the conflict they produce, is a potent pathway to achieving generative shifts in thinking and communicating behaviors.
Manage Yourself with Others
Take Responsibility
The only person over which any of us has complete control is ourselves. Whatever we think, say, and do communicates who we are and our intentions. We decide who we want to be in our interactive relationships with others, our communities, and our world.
The words you choose matter, along with your thoughts and actions. Be aware of how your interactions impact others and your shared circumstances.
Many belief systems around the world share a variation of the understanding that we should strive to do unto others the way we would have others to do unto us. Perhaps this is a common understanding across the planet of our interdependence in the web of life.
Practice observing your habits and how you understand of the world around you. Be courageous and explore new ways of being. If not you, who?