Tell me what you are feeling!

I recall what the facilitator invited the children to do on this occasion - to draw or sketch how they feel about an experience they had the previous day. The children was curious to know why and how they should do this. It was a day camp for children, organized to promote communication skills.

I liked the way children were engaged  in self disclosure exercise. They had a good talking and listening time before they began drawing. That itself was the starting point of communication.

As adults, we communicate at three levels. We talk and comment about events, happenings, news, sports, weather, politics. We do that to make social conversations. Most of what happens when people gather together is at this level. In this process, those who are witty, conversational and dominant take over most of the conversation and others listen or add few yes or Nos. It promotes social net working. This is the main content of the social media.

The second level of communication is what happens at amore personal level, when we may talk about our families, personal experiences at work, our aspirations, disappointments, needs, expectations. We reveal our thoughts, attitudes, and circumstances in such conversations. We do this with friends and family members. often and listeners respond to this by opinions, clarifications and advice. This promotes a certain level of personal friendship and nearness with some people. 

The third level of communication is what the facilitator was trying out with the children in the group. Our feeling about ourselves or about our experiences often settle into our subconscious level, and gradually affect our attitudes, responses and decisions. Our world-view will get formed from our impressions and feelings. They then become the optic through which we view people, situations and make our choices. It is imperative that we share our feelings and personal impressions for inner catharsis and clarification. Often such personal communication increases our openness, transparency and authenticity. We no more live with a mask, or pretentions. We become to others what we really are. This promotes mutuality. This level of communication takes place mostly in a marriage relationship or between intimate friends or confidants. A mentor or spiritual director facilitates this level of communication.