I bumped into one of my neighbours this morning and we discovered something about each other that we didn’t know… we are both passionate about self care, particularly meditation and mindfulness.

As we talked she was telling me how she enjoyed our conversation a lot and we pondered how conversation is becoming a little bit of a lost art. Conversation, at least, where we explore and discover shared interests and something new. I wondered, as I finished the walk with the dog, what the impact of our move into the online world was. The online world lends itself beautifully to the sound bite. Conversations are linear and come to a logical conclusion. It’s harder to take things in a different direction as we did. We started on the weather (as most conversations do) and ended up talking about friendship, photography, art, music, property developing, meditation, mindfulness, walking, holidays…. the list went on. Such a conversation would be unlikely to develop in that way online. Don’t get me wrong, I love online. I think it’s a great medium. Accessible, instant. But it lacks the flow of a real life conversation.

Part of the problem may be that we are all very busy. It needed a Sunday morning, a chance meeting, and the fact we were in a field away from distractions for this conversation to take place. It just takes someone to start. Then we join in. When I teach communication skills I’m always saying that as human animals we are instinctive communicators. We can’t help ourselves. But, as ever, it is the quality of the conversation that is important. It takes being in the moment without those distractions.

We agreed that because of our conversation our day would be changed. We felt invigorated and motivated through this chance contact. The desire to connect is part of the human condition.

So I want to challenge you to have more conversations. It is such connections that develop us. Enhance us. Take the time. Create the space. Be mindful. Be in the moment. Let it flow.

Let’s talk!