Communication essentials: three gates

Kindness.

Who has time for that?

I could make the case that we all have time for kindness. We make time for a lot of other things. We look for ways to improve our skillsets. Our physical states. Our mental states. Our diets. Our fantasy teams. We make time to check in on social channels.

I see a lot of time we could redirect, if even for a minute, to focus on kindness. And I’m including myself in that. Which is probably why I paused in today’s meditation lesson in the Calm app. The subject was kind communication … in the workplace.

The lesson? To consider three ‘gates’ before you speak*. Let what you’re going to say go through:

A first gate – “Is it true?”

A second gate – “Is it necessary?”

A third gate – “Is it kind?”

Seems like a small step to change how we talk to people. Even the tough conversations can still be kind conversations. Can I do it? I’m going to find out.

(*source: Rumi)