Before exploring conversations in more depth, there is an important distinction to be made between what are termed ‘public conversations’ and ‘private conversations’. As you would be aware, each of us is in an ongoing conversation with ourselves. This is our ‘private conversation’ and it remains private until we choose to share it with others. […]
Public and Private Conversations Read More »
What does it take to be a good listener? I have touched on what we can listen for such as the various linguistic actions and others’ concerns. However, we can also look at how we can engage in others in conversations. Openness Openness speaks to an acceptance of others’ ways of being and worldview and
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This approach is based on a new understanding of language where language is seen as action. This interpretation provides us with a new way of looking at the phenomenon of listening. J.L.Austin, a British philosopher who was one of the first people to identify language as an active process, identified three primary levels of action
The Phenomenon of Listening Read More »
Like many things we do in life, we have learnt how to have conversations simply by observing and engaging with others. In general, we are not taught how to have effective conversations with others to address our or their concerns. Indeed, most people would not see conversational practice as something to learn other than in
Effective Conversations Read More »
In his book, ‘The Good Listener’, Hugh Mackay termed this approach to communication the ‘injection myth’. “The ‘injection myth’ treats messages rather like drugs which act on other people’s mind. It assumes that messages have inherent power (their ‘meaning’). In order to be effective communicators – the theory goes – we first have to craft
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When asked most people would say they want to live an authentic life, but what does that mean? Generally people appear to form their response on the basis of who they think is the ’real me’, which is often idealised, and see authenticity as wanting to be true to that ‘real me’. The ‘real me’
Our way of being is not static but shifts dynamically through time. Think about how you feel on any given day. No doubt there will be periods when your energy levels vary; sometimes higher, sometimes lower. Those shifts in your energy level denote a shift in your physical being at that time. There is a
The Story Action Cycle Read More »
The principle underlying the formation of new habits is repetition so that we build the new neural connections. In order to repeat our desired actions requires intent. We have to choose the new action at the appropriate time and to this we must be aware that we are in such a choice point. Remember, control
Creating Future Moments Read More »
Adult development involves sustainable change. Any approach to a designed sustainable change has to begin with the understanding we are habitual beings. Any sustainable change process is one of forming new habits. It is easy to think of the change process as a series of steps yet it can be better conceived as a stuttering
The Learning Space Read More »
In this work, learning is a distinction we make in language. It is an assessment made of someone’s or something’s change in capacity to generate effective action. As an assessment lives with the observer, the extent of someone’s learning may vary from person to person. Furthermore, as we are seeing a change in capacity it
Orders of Learning Read More »