Interpersonal Communication- A Mindful Approach to Relationships, 2020a

Intention
Attention
Intention
Attention
Attitude
Attitude
Figure 2.10 Model of Mindful Communication
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These are just a few examples of what mindless interpersonal interactions can look like when we don’t
consider the attention, intention, and attitude. Mindful interpersonal communication, on the other hand,
occurs when we engage in the following communication behaviors: 30
• Listening to your partner without being distracted.
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• Validating yourself and your partner.
The authors of this text truly believe that engaging in mindful interpersonal communicative relationships
is very important in our day-to-day lives. All of us are bombarded by messages, and it’s effortless to
start treating all messages as if they were equal and must be attended to within a given moment. Let’s
look at that first mindless behavior we talked about earlier, checking your cellphone while you’re
talking to people. As we discussed in Chapter 1, our minds have a habit of wandering 47% of the time.
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Our monkey brains are constantly jumping from idea to idea before we add in technology. If you’re
continually checking your cellphone while you’re talking to someone, you’re allowing your brain to roam
even more than it already does.
Effective interpersonal communication is hard. The goal of a mindful approach to interpersonal
communication is to train ourselves to be in the moment with someone listening and talking. We’ll talk
more about listening and talking later in this text. For now, we’re going to wrap-up this chapter by looking
at some specific skills to enhance your interpersonal communication.
Key Takeaways
In action models, communication was viewed as a one-directional transmission
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