During a recent walk a friend and I were having a wonderful conversation, that is up until the point when the converstion took a right turn and I turned left.  Suddenly I was profoundly lost and thought that surely one of us must have suffered an acute onset of senility.  Hoping it was not me, I ventured to clarify by saying, “I think that you just took a right turn when I took left?”

After we stopped laughing (it really is the best medicine), we realized that we were on separate paths because of our different interpretation of a single word. In this day and age with most of our communication done electronically how often do you clarify what you mean?  Many times we are very clear about the message in “our” mind, however it might be helpful to step into the listener or readers mind and see if what we said could be misinterpreted.   Have you ever wondered why you did not get a reply to an email or text?  What was the reason you got the “Onset of senility” look?  Perhaps a follow up with clarification might be called for.

We are a wonderful melting pot of cultures, ideas, beliefs and languages.  When I moved to America from Ireland over 20 years ago I learned very quickly that many seemingly innocent words truly had a different meaning.  Fortunately, people with a good sense of humor surrounded me and “the word of the day” was often posted on a white board for clarification.  My roommate would shake her head and wonder how on earth could I, another female, “knock her up” before I left in the morning.

I am reminded of a saying that I heard many years ago.

“I know you that believe you understand what you thought I said, but I am not so sure you realize that what you heard was not really what I meant.”  Those words had a profound impact on me.  They helped me appreciate that it is not just what you say and how you say it, but also how the listener interprets the message.  I believe that moment was the catalyst for my passion to study the art of how we connect, communicate and clarify.  I am now much more mindful and aware of the times when the message goes left and the listener goes right.