Emotional Aikido

February 7, 2007
Today in communications we had a very hands on lesson that taught us the importance of practicing “emotional Aikido” versus “emotional Wang Chung.” This was a really fun class and important lesson for me to learn personally. I think often it is so easy to become defensive and hurt each other's feelings because we want the other person to know exactly how we feel or perceive them to be. It is very important to be patient with people and understand where they are coming from; it is also important to cool down and think about what we say before we do or say something we might regret (emotional Wang Chung).
In applying this principal I notice that I am more patient and understanding. I try to take the energy of the person I am listening to and use that to communicate with them instead of getting worked up and using a lot more energy than needed. I find that I let the little things “roll off my back” and I am not as uptight.
I taught this principal to Tyson. He thought it was pretty interesting and he could easily see how it is important when communicating.