Speak your mind and be your own man. This is something I heard quite a lot from my Pa growing up. Speaking from your chest is a skill that needs practiced regularly. In life we can only relay what we see, hear and learn through teachings and experience. You shouldn’t be ashamed to admit when you are wrong. Being wrong is simply part of life. In that, we should pride ourselves in the growth we achieve by striving to correct or alter our perspective to more accurately state what we intended for translation.

In an effort to not just behave like a lemming and regurgitate what you hear in day to day passing or more in depth conversation. Take a moment to clarify what’s been said or shown. Create an environment you can fully understand whatever topic is at hand to the best of your ability.

Don’t necessarily die on that hill but give it a solid run. Pick and choose your battles while still remaining true to yourself. With so much time and opportunity to learn in life surely none of us get every single thing correct the first time. Despite however much effort was put into the equation.

Even with good intentions conversations can be misinterpreted or even twisted in translation to have an entirely different meaning or point completely outside the original scope of the conversation.

For instance, the tower of babel is an excellent example of communicating and words being picked apart to absolute meaninglessness. So many languages and words we’ve created and given definition to create a sense of understanding for the idea in relation. Many times people have different cultural backgrounds. This leads to differing slang terms and different vocal inflection. Plenty of room for miscommunication and confusion while holding conversations with different folks.

When holding a conversation with someone of equal competence I’ll say you can typically avoid any misunderstandings by simply asking for clarification on things that your ignorant to. This isn’t so much diving into the definitions of words necessarily as it’s potentially digging at the intended meaning behind a sentence or so of words. However that has quite a few factors involved. It all depends on the individual’s knowledge in relation to the topic itself as well as the intellect to understand and recognize differing perspectives. A sentence can hold the same amount of substance while being stated in a dozen varying ways. In that case there really isn’t a right and wrong. Merely what is understood by both parties is what’s important. This is one of the reasons we have the phrase Speaking In Laymen’s Terms.

Perspective – This is vital to a good conversation. The ability to see what the world might be like in someone else’s shoes is a talent.

Taking the time to recognize the struggles a stereotypical business man goes through vs the struggles a stereotypical street musician are completely different. One mans hands may hurt everyday from the strings he strums vs the other mans head aches from the complexities he has to find solutions to everyday. Which is why the fundamental basics behind empathy towards other people, their situations, and having effective communication with one another is so important.

I think what is more important is that people have a spine in the first place and are willing to put their ego and potential vanity on the line for the belief they hold. Regardless of how controversial it may be. Despite being wrong every now and then or disagreeing with people, I strive to stand true. I still hold my values close to my chest and stand by them unwavering until I’m, without a doubt, proven incorrect in my reasoning.

We are the equivalent of our actions. You should attempt to speak true to the best of your ability and be willing to back up your words.

I’ve learned there’s a time and a place to share your opinions and thoughts on things. Sometimes you need to bite your tongue for your own benefit later down the line. I’m well aware of my own ability to make my life harder for myself by voicing an opinion that wasn’t well received at the time. I’ve done that very thing several times in my life. Recognizing the assumptions I’ve made or the lack of forward thinking before speaking goes a long way, in terms of saving yourself the heartache of another mistake.

Choosing your words carefully in a work setting versus how casually you speak with your family is essential to maintaining a balanced Work Vs Home life.

Finding someone of like mind that can understand, who’s more likely to agree with your point of view, makes for easy discussion. It’s when people don’t necessarily hold the same view or perhaps don’t understand where you’re coming from that makes it difficult. So when you do voice your opinion it’s important to do it confident though not arrogantly while remaining clear and concise. Getting into the weeds doesn’t typically help anybody, unless of course the individual you’re discussing with wants to get into the weeds regarding a particular topic. When someone is paying attention and listening intently that’s when added details and specifics make the most sense. Building blocks for further discussion if you actually care to bring it into more complexities. That’s when conversation can get really interesting.

There is a fine line between being confident and arrogant though. Be sure to fully understand your point of view and be ready to back it up.

Otherwise you are just behaving as a lemming or pseudo intellectual who has no real substance to provide to the discussion in the first place. When holding a conversation it’s not always a bad thing to be ignorant to information, digging into that information picking it apart and bringing it to roots you are familiar with and building a structure the conversation can hold some weight in makes a huge difference. So converse with people as much as you can handle. In doing this you will get better and better over time holding a solid conversation and actually be worth your salt.

Don’t be afraid to speak your mind. Hold it and be willing to defend it until proven incorrect. Pick your battles, some conversations aren’t always worth having.

Understand not everybody is in a place to have the conversation you may be starting. Ignorance is only a good excuse for the first time experience. After that, it’s kind of on you to know if a conversation is worth having with someone or not.

Like this blog here, this is me still practicing. Challenging my own thoughts. Putting myself out there. For the world to see. Testing what I know and how I phrase it when I say it. So thank you for the read. I’m just a 26 year old with plenty still to learn about life. Thank you for sharing in that process with me.

Copyright©2024 David S. Larson All Rights Reserved

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