The Five Keys to Mindful Communication / Susan Gates Gill

RATINGS

Overall: 3 / 5 stars

Text Level: Medium

Entertainment: Low

Self-Help: High

Genres: Nonfiction, Self Help, Spirituality, Psychology, Leadership, Communication

Page Count: 224

Is this book right for my inmate and me?

Based on Buddhist beliefs and practices, Susan Gillis Chapman offers a book of meditation that help improve our communication skills. If you find yourself constantly in misunderstandings, arguments, and conversations filled with harmful words, this book can be quite helpful. She asks her readers to improve how they communicate with others by first being self-reflective of their own actions. One specific tool used in this book is the green, red, and yellow light system that we use to know if we are actually being open and truthful in our conversation. Through meditation practices, readers lower defensiveness so we can begin to communicate properly.

Review By: Blackbird (Inmate)

Improve your healthy communication skills to improve your relationships.

How do we communicate with those around us? are we able to recognize that our communication level splay a major part in a healthy mental make up? Susan Gillis Chapman writes a book for us where we learn many keys to a positive mind, body, and soul are tied to our communication abilities with those we hold close. Through mindful meditation practices, readers learn how to better communicate with themselves and the world around them.

When a person finds themselves in jail, they begin to shut themselves off from others. This leads to breakdowns in relationships because the feeling of open healthy communication is lost. With the emotional pain that comes along with life in confinement, it becomes natural for many inmates to be “I-first” in their thinking. These are a loss of attachment to the “we” of society and community that plagues released inmates even when they are once again home.

Gillis Champan asks her readers to reflect on themselves first to better understand what might be the troubles of communicating with others. She introduced a colored lighting system of green, yellow and red to explain whether we might be closed off to the people we interact with.

The author explains that often we might b closed off to the world around us displaying a ‘red light’ to people willing to spend time with us. The nonverbal tones we set toward people are sometimes louder than words. To improve our communication abilities we must start by being open and thinking of others not just ourselves. In mindful meditation practices provided by the author, we can work to better stand our readiness for a peaceful communication mindset. Through journaling exercises, readers learn the keys to healthy speech, listening, and response that so often become lost in conversations. Gillis Chapman hopes that by awakening our bodies, having tender hearts, and opening our minds, we will be better able to communicate with our loved ones. This will lead to stronger relationships and help us move past life traumas into a happy life of openness.

So many inmates lack healthy communication skills. By not building these abilities, it only hinders the chance of successful reincorporation back into society. We learn this book’s practical techniques on how to effectively share what we need to communicate. We have the ability to show more love and a better understanding of our world if we first open ourselves to others. The first major step towards that healthy life is through communication.