COMMUNICATION

Definition of Communication:
Sharing or exchanging information, news, or ideas. imparting or exchanging of information by speaking, writing, or other medium.

Synonyms of Communication:
Conveying, presenting, passing on, handing on, relaying, divulging, disclosing, etc.

These notes are from recovery in AA and related 12 step programs.
Readers are encouraged to click the external link for more detail.
We hope you find them helpful.

Love in fellowship.

We may reduce our difficulties with others to communication problems, yet the remedy may remain unclear. Clear, specific, and direct language will help us be more responsible.

We can be more direct by using you and me language. In the process, we yield to the truth within ourselves – and become more honest. –Touchstones | More…

Words in themselves have no meaning. It is the spirit and intent behind the words that really show the meaning. If my words have no meaning, you can feel this through the center of your being. –Elders | More…

So much can be gained by listening. Is it a coincidence that the Creator gave us one mouth and two ears? —Elders

Why, has God chosen to communicate His healing grace to so many of us? Every aspect of this global unfoldment can be related to a single crucial word. The word is “communication.”

There has been a lifesaving communication among ourselves, with the world around us, and with God. From the beginning, communication in A.A. has been no ordinary transmission of helpful ideas and attitudes.

Because of our kinship in suffering, and because our common means of deliverance are effective for ourselves only when constantly carried to others, our channels of contact have always been charged with the language of the heart. –As Bill Sees It | More… (p.185)

Our spiritualty requires that we know our many sides. We need a working relationship with our thoughts and feelings so they can be appreciated, accepted, and understood.

When we tell our story in a meeting, we let others know us, and we get to know ourselves better. When we are spontaneous in what we say or do, we communicate with ourselves.

We discover ourselves through meditation, journal writing, playfulness, physical activity, and conversations with others. In that way we become more honest. –Touchstones | More…

The letter

Dear Friend,
How are you? I just had to send a note to tell you how much I care about you.
I saw you yesterday as you were talking with your friends.

I waited all day hoping you would want to talk with me too.
I gave you a sunset to close your day and a cool breeze to rest you — and I waited.

You never came. It hurt me, but I still love you because I am your friend.
I saw you sleeping last night and longed to touch your brow so I spilled moonlight upon your face.

Again I waited, wanting to rush down so we could talk.
I have so many gifts for you! You awoke and rushed off to work. My tears were in the rain.

If you would only listen to me! I love you! I try to tell you in blue skies and in the quiet green grass.
I whisper it in leaves on the trees and breathe it in colours of flowers, shout it to you in mountain streams, give the birds love songs to sing.

I clothe you with warm sunshine and perfume the air with nature scents.
My love for you is deeper than the ocean, and bigger than the biggest need in your heart!

Ask me! Talk with me! Please don’t forget me. I have so much to share with you!
I won’t hassle you any further. It is YOUR decision. I have chosen you and I will wait
I love you.  Your friend, God –12 Step Prayer Book p.82/#115 | More…

Small talk is what engages us much of the time.
Many people shy away from in-depth discussions.

We learn that we are and always have been all that we’ve needed to be. One of the good things about growing older, for some of us at least, is that we realize most worries don’t materialize; most situations aren’t as serious as we anticipated, and most people are more approachable than they first appear to be.

Taking risks to share our thoughts gets easier the more we practice it. Let’s not shy away from this today. –Keepers of the Wisdom/Karen Casey | More…

People are lonely because they build walls instead of bridges. Words are merely fingers pointing the direction to understanding – they are not understanding itself.

To really communicate with someone, we have to allow ourselves, just for a moment, to become that other person. When we do this, we begin to be able to see beyond the masks that hide what another person is really feeling.–Today’s Gift | More…

God is the great interpreter of one human personality to another.
Each personality is so different.

God alone understands perfectly the language of each and can interpret between the two. Here I find the miracles of change and the true interpretation of life. –Twenty-Four Hours a Day for Teens | More…

Part of owning our power is learning to communicate clearly, directly, and assertively. We don’t have to listen to, or participate in, nonsense. We can say what we want and stop when we’re done. –The Language of Letting Go | More…

Part of owning our power is learning to communicate clearly, directly, and assertively. We don’t have to listen to, or participate in, nonsense. We can say what we want and stop when we’re done. –The Language of Letting Go | More…

Each morning a new sun for a new day arises. Each morning the sweet perfume from the Mother Earth spreads across the land. This combination of sun, earth, smell and quiet is a magic door for me to enter to kneel before the Grandfathers. The sacred time to commune with the Great Spirit. –Elders Meditations | More…