Staying Relaxed

Maybe you have done this, too. The other day, just for mindless fun, while walking down the street I began walking along the curb and pretended I was tightrope walking thousands of feet in the air. I did great and did not fall once. The reason for this is not because I had or have great balance. Instead, it pertained to the fact I was actually only inches above the ground so there was no real consequences had I stepped off the curb. If I had been thousands of feet above ground, then I would not have attempted any kind of tightrope walk, but if I had, then without question I would fallen to my death within seconds.   

Not surprisingly, during of time of pretend, I was relaxed and felt no pressure over what I was doing. That would have changed instantly if my time of pretend had become real. Often times when we are communicating in a time of "pretend," such as driving alone in our car and giving some sort of imaginary speech to our boss or an audience, we are stress-free because there are no consequences if we say the wrong thing or get tangled up in our words. Of course, if the boss were suddenly before us or if we were standing in front of room of strangers, then our mind set would in all likelihood change dramatically.

The challenge with communication is to feel relaxed regardless of whether we are alone or facing others. I understand that may very well be easier said than done. But the thing to remember is that getting into a more relaxed state is doable even if it is not necessarily easy. How does one do that? One quick answer is to know what it is you want to say. You may not know precisely what words to use, but having a good sense of where it is you want to go with your message is a key element. This involves having the necessary facts you need to support what it is you are trying to communicate. If a message is credible, then people will overlook a less-than-perfect articulation of it.