Tag Archive for communication

Growing Pains

16 September 2013 / / Comments Off on Growing Pains

One would assume that being a keen observer of relationships, having a master of art’s degree in communication studies, and being empathic means I am incredibly gifted at saying the right thing all the time.

The assumption would be wrong.

As I have negotiated the unfamiliar land that the Sip and Go Girl media EMPIRE has led me to, I discover being the “gossipy self help” of the World Wide Web can make me over-confident and cheeky.

That’s a sour combo when I fling my gifts in the faces of people as though I own the world of intuition.

I did that with sipandgogirl.com writer Picture Perfect. He submitted an article that, to me, seemed like a mini love letter to the woman who was a subject of it. He spoke highly of her in grand terms. Then, after submitting it, he contacted me worried that readers could identify him.

Jeremy Brett as Sherlock Holmes in the Granada Series. Probably figuring out the identity of Sip and Go Girl writers

Jeremy Brett as Sherlock Holmes in the Granada Series. Probably figuring out the identity of Sip and Go Girl writers

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Mysterious Illnesses Of Facebook Users

23 July 2013 / / One comment

There are plenty of lists that mock certain “types” of posts on Facebook. You’ve surely read those posts from people who constantly talk about how much they love their significant other or that they just finished a crazy difficult exercise routine or ate the world’s tastiest burrito.

The website Funny Or Die satirizes the popular social medium’s users who post– among many things– about being terribly alone or unlovable.

http://www.funnyordie.com/lists/6706d22475/people-who-should-be-immediately-unfriended-on-facebook

I’m adding another type of poster: The Mysterious Illness I Won’t Explain.

It doesn’t seem possible, but it was one year ago today that we took off for [insert location here], so our [child]could have specialized surgery there. The surgery was a success and we were well taken care of in the [number] weeks we spent there thanks to our doctors and nurses and to the friends and family who lent their support. Feeling a lot of gratitude today.

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Something To Decide Early On

25 February 2013 / / 2 comments

“Saturday Night Fever” was a 1977 film starring a disco-dancing John Travolta. You know the one.

Back in the late 1990s, theater producers morphed the movie into a stage musical. I saw it when the show came through the town I lived in ten years ago.

In one scene during the show, protagonist Tony Manero (the Travolta character in the movie) asks Annette (the Donna Pescow character in the movie), “You a nice girl or a slut?”

She replies, “I dunno. Both.”

Tony tells her, “You can’t be both. You’re either a nice girl or a slut. That’s something a girl’s got to decide early on.”
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One Cannot Not Communicate

5 February 2013 / / 5 comments

I used to start my first lecture of the semester for university students with the words one cannot not communicate. The phrase came from the Palo Alto Group, a group of researchers studying the mind.

The basic idea is that no matter what we’re doing or saying, we are indeed communicating something to the other person. That’s why it irks me to no end when I hear someone say, “we’re not communicating.” Because it’s not that someone isn’t communicating, it’s that he or she isn’t communicating effectively.

If you’re sitting on a bus reading a book with the cover “50 Shades of Grey”, you’re communicating something different to other riders than if you’re reading a book with the cover “The Bible.” If you’re silent during a lunch out with your best friend, you’re communicating something to him or her.
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Stop Thinking The Same Thing

4 February 2013 / / 4 comments

We’re thinking too much alike. Stop it.

There’s nothing uglier for a family, a workplace, a social club or any type of group than for members to get stuck in the trap of all thinking the same thing all the time.

Groups are useful and necessary in many situations. Handling a project or something in a group is good because this setup often solves problems that individuals cannot.

But some groups can create a mess. The cover-up of child sex abuse at Penn State is one example.

People attached to the football program tried so hard to protect the glory of the university image, the football team, and the revered coaches Jerry Sandusky and Joe Paterno. Instead, children suffered at the hands of Sandusky. He was sentenced with 30 to 60 years in prison after being found guilty on 45 counts related to sexually assaulting children. But it took a long time for the case to reach courts because of the coverups at the university.

Beware the groupthink.
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