Yesterday was yet again, Screen free Sunday in our house. So I’m doing yesterday’s entry this morning and I’ll post today’s entry this afternoon.

My pick of gratitude for yesterday is communication. I’m grateful that we have the ability to communicate with one another, that we have language, and that we can engage in discourse. I’m also grateful that in the face of miscommunication we can often find a way back to the path of effective communication. In this age of electronic communication, our world is smaller than it has ever been, yet poor communication is at an all time high. It’s hard to determine syntax, innuendo, and jest via text or email. Sometimes even harder, is detecting sarcasm. I’m a huge fan of electronic communication, but give me old fashioned verbal communication above all anytime. There’s just no substitute for face to face interaction. You can pick up subtle clues verbally and nonverbally. You can read body language and facial expressions. This often helps in times of miscommunication or poor communication. When the talk is going south, you have the ability to bail out or redirect it.

Because we are human, arguments and crappy communication often still happen. That’s mostly because of ego. We want to be right; we want to be heard. This leads us down a destructive path that can sometimes be irreversible. However, we also have the ability to say we are sorry. A sincere apology works wonders to repair broken communication. I hate saying it as much as the next person, thanks to that peaky ego not wanting to admit our own faults. But getting back to good communication and stopping the hurt feelings is a good thing, and saying I’m sorry is another part of this that I’m grateful for.

I’m thankful for communication and owning ones missteps in communicating.