This Yellow Pen is Blue

I encountered a "situation" at work today that made me re-evaluate my communication skills. It was one of those moments when you want to scream, "Why aren't you listening to me?! Why don't you GET IT?!"

Thankfully, my guardian angel was hovering and somehow managed to contain my frustration. None the less, it got me thinking about communication and how all of us do it differently.

And here's what I came up with:

It seems like sometimes, people not only see things differently but they actually exist in an entirely different world. It's like you're looking at a yellow pen and someone's telling you it's blue. Thus, if you try to ask them to use the yellow pen, they'll probably look at you like you're crazy. However, if you tell them to use the blue pen (even if you know it's really yellow) they'll smile, pick it up and move on. Yes, it's frustrating. But what it comes down to is this: you have to use the words that make sense to the other person. You have to communicate on their terms. Otherwise you just end up in a shouting match:

"It's yellow!"

"It's blue!"

"It's yellow!"

This is a somewhat tenuous argument but I think my point is apparent: you have to listen to the person you're talking to. What are they seeing? If the pen is blue (in their world) you've got to refer to it that way. Forget reality for a minute - just communicate! Don't get hung up on the small stuff. Maybe they'll eventually see that the pen is really yellow. Or maybe (just maybe) you'll realize it's blue.

I hope this made some kind of sense for someone. I'm still frustrated but I'm trying to see what went wrong. I'm trying to learn from the situation.

Please share your own frustrations and your own attempts to make sense of this crazy world. Share! Discuss! Vent! Contemplate! Explain! Criticize! Whatever!

Let's just communicate. That's why this website exists. Believe it or not, it's work. If you enjoy it or learn from it, please add to it. I hope this isn't taken the wrong way. I've just had a bit of a bad day and I'd like to hear that others go through it too.

Talk about it