Erma Bombeck once said, “It seems rather incongruous that in a society of super sophisticated communication, we often suffer from a shortage of listeners.”

Perhaps that's because many of us suffer from what communicator Nido Qubien terms 'agenda anxiety' – the feeling that what we want to say to others is more important than what they may want to say to us. Perhaps too, sometimes we try to impress rather than express, not realizing that two monologues do not necessarily make a dialogue

I've always found that relationships with others work when communication works. And I've discovered that communication works better when we listen as well as we speak; when we relate from the heart as well as the head.

In their book, Managing from the Heart, the authors discuss what it means to communicate from the heart. Here are five principles of 'HEART' communication for you to reflect on:
H ear and understand me.
E ven if ou disagree, don't make me wrong.
A cknowledge the greatness within me.
R emember to look for my loving ntentions.
T ell the truth with compassion.

The quality of our lives will be largely determined by the quality of our relationships. And it's only with our hearts that we will communicate in ways that really matter. (Adapted from Steve Goodier)