In these bright days of the Mediterranean spring, I walk in nature and I find it impossible not to get emotional by the explosion of life that this season is: the din of the birds, the buds everywhere, the colors and those green perfumes that flood everything.
I guess it’s in that ecstatic emotion of my walks where two words are generated that often accompany me all the way, like large traveling neon signs.
The first one is the word GENEROSITY. It is drawn to my mind and it resonates insistently. I assume that witnessing such expression of beauty and life connects me directly with the more essential idea of generosit , which is no other than that of nature, with that ability to give and to give itself. It seems like a generosity in its purest form, where the balance of the whole is always above the individualities of each species, as my dear partner Ester Torrella always explains.
Interestingly, this generosity of nature builds for me a bridge of reflection towards our human communication and ignites my desire to recover the origins of the word COMMUNICATE. This suggestion comes to me for a reason, so I walk the bridge to see what’s on the other side.
And I find that, in one of his first meanings, the dictionaries make it very clear: to communicate is “to put in common”. Derived from the Latin commune, it also means “that fulfills its duty to others”, being composed of cum (together) and munis (duty, function). How valuable the depth of this word!
Although what really fascinates me is rediscovering this underlying idea that communication is, above all, an act of generosity to others: one has something to share and, at the same time, the responsibility to share it. And, I add, the responsibility of sharing it in the best way possible.
Remember that true communication should always start with an act of fundamental generosity: thinking first of the other part, understanding who I have before me and anticipating the how he/she may or may not receive what I will share.
I know this sounds like extra work. But it only seems so, because I always say that the investment will have a high return in the quality of our relations.
As people that want to communicate more consciously, it is up to us to minimally adapt ourselves to the receiver, to that how he/she can or cannot receive our message. Let that be our first act of intelligence and generosity in communication. And this does not imply giving up what we have to say.
Of course, it will not always be the right time to communicate what we want, not always the other person will be receptive and open to listen, or will we be with the inspiration and empathy well calibrated. But I affirm that, even when the starting point is conflict, we can all take the responsibility to communicate more generously, more constructively and above all more compassionately.
Sometimes we will have to be fair, in others we will have to be direct, empathetic or absolutely sharp. But whatever the nature of our messages, on the other side of what we say there will always be people. That is why I want to invite you to this idea: a more generous communication in all the relational levels will contribute to enjoy a more beautiful and human world.
In short, we always come back to the same core: communicating with higher awareness improves our personal, professional, organizational and business lives. And if more and more people communicate in a conscious and generous way, the effect multiplies. That’s where we are heading, piano piano, do not hold any doubts.
I close the article by sharing the second word that persists in my spring walks: THANK YOU. I am not surprised, because in the walking I continuously marvel and it flows from me a gratitude that is not thought and expresses silent but forcefully at every step I take.
Yes, you are reading well: lately I go around secretly communicating with trees and little bugs that I meet. I thank my guardian oak. I greet with love the pine tree that already knows me. I smile at the carpenter bird who flies away scared. I encourage the budding almonds to ripen. And I enter the forest with respect and gratitude for the immense gift that it makes to me.
I live it as normal, to be honest. Once set to communicate with other beings from the heart, all of nature’s creations seem to be there to receive my gratitude. Without great fuss, simply being, they give me examples of infinite generosity and very inspiring moments of connection with life, in the style of the great humanist Walt Whitman in his fantastic Leaves of Grass:
“I think a leave of grass is no less that the route of the stars “.
I leave you with the poetic spirit of Whitman, always suitable for this season, while we just added another key ingredient to our particular recipe for compassionate communication: generosity.
We will continue in the next months with more ingredients and for now, a happy spring to all!