A few days ago I wrote about my frustrations over a conflict that was happening on our local group's discussion list. I was pretty angry and frustrated over it all. Mostly I was frustrated at my seeming inability to communicate effectively and couldn't see where I was disconnecting with everyone involved.
I had a private e-mail discussion with one of the involved parties and her response was, what I call, a clue-by-four. We were both coming from a place of feeling like the other was intolerant of our views. No wonder we weren't able to communicate. It felt good to finally communicate and to understand why we hadn't been able to before.
I'm glad I took the time to talk with this person but I wish I'd done it before the situation had gotten so far out of hand. Instead of kicking myself for that, I'm looking at it as a learning experience. If I learn from it, it's not a waste and perhaps I can use what I've learned in communicating with others in the future.
