27 May Happiness is…letting others know what you need
I have not qualms in acknowledging that I've had a bit of a rough month. Not everything has gone badly, in fact some things have gone extremely well; but I've had more than my share of challenges in recent times and not surprisingly, this has tested my use of the positive psychology strategies I teach and, it's tested my happiness.
Now I won't bore you with all the details but suffice to say that there have been times I've just needed to be on my own. As you might expect from my job, I love people and most of the time I love talking to people but there have been times in recent weeks when I've needed to just be left alone.
I think we all have times like that don't we?
Anyway, the other day I found myself putting my headphones in my ears even thought I wasn't, and had no intention of listening to any music. I did it because I assumed that if people say those magical white cables they'd be less likely to come and say hello, or ask me about what was happening, or even if they did I figured it would give me a good excuse to either not respond or to quickly answer and then move along.
Anyway, it got me thinking about what I was doing or in reality, what I was trying to do…which was to send a message to people about what I needed (or I guess you could possibly say, what I didn't need – attention!).
And then it got me thinking about communication more generally, and how we send messages to others, and whether this is always as effective as it could be, and the role this has in our relationships and ultimately in our happiness and wellbeing!
This blog is not necessarily meant to provide answers but rather, to pose a few questions and hopefully to get you thinking and maybe even "talking" on The Happiness Institute's Facebook Page.
What do you do and what messages do you send? What works for you and what might, ultimately, be unhelpful or damaging to your happiness or the happiness of those around you?
I don't think what I did with my earphones was necessarily wrong or bad but I'm sur there are probably better and more direct ways to communicate and accordingly, ways to communicate that in the end will be better and more effective for all involved.
But what do you think? Please have your say and/or post your comments HERE