I’m in the back of a police car and…

Image from Pixabay

It’s not what you think.

A detective was driving me to headquarters, to lead a communication workshop for a his special victims unit.

“You’ve been dealing with people for 30 years,” I asked. ”What do you think about communication?”

His answer was enlightening.

He said, there’s two kinds of people...

A few are just in it for themselves. They’re self-centered and don’t care about anything beyond their own fears.

Then there is everybody else. Most people are thoughtful about others. They want to help. They listen and cooperate.

Most of us don’t have to communicate the way a police officer does, but we can learn something from this.

People communicate at their level of consciousness.

Some have no or low self-awareness.

Some have empathy and understanding.

Some want others to succeed because they understand it makes them feel good themselves.

The higher someone’s consciousness, the more they understand that all things are connected, the universe operates on exchange.

Those with a very high level of consciousness understand that relationships are mirrors…people’s judgment says more about the judger than the judged.

In the workplace, we can’t change people, but we can influence them, by attempting to connect on the human level.

With difficult people, I’ve found success comes from planting one small seed of connection after another, watering those seeds with my openness and empathy. Yes, even for jerks.

(To remain grounded, I sometimes imagine them flipping over their pillow to the cool side. Don’t know why, but this ridiculous image humanizes them.)

Some of those seeds whither and die without the sunlight of the other person’s consciousness, but some will sprout and grow because of yours.