dailydatewithgod

One of the elements I miss in an electronic communication is tone.  There is something powerful about the quality of sound emanating from another person.  Someone’s tone is so much more than the sound of their voice which can perhaps be overlayed by the reader of someone’s message from memory.  The tone conveys the quality of the mood, the body posture, the context in which they are conveying their message, and the energy level of the human being.  I would love it if it could be like it is in the movies when the actual person narrates during the reading of the message but that is one of the differences between movies and life. What actually happens is that I use my tone to read the message.  I know this because when my mood does not match the words of the message I sometimes misread the message. When I pause to notice this I can recognize perhaps why my reaction is disproportionate to the situation.  Given how much communication happens void of tone, it is important that I have an awareness of my own tone.  On my daily dates with God, I am invited to notice the tone with which I enter our date.  God has shown me how to develop an awareness of the difference or similarity between the tone of my mind and the tone of my heart.  It is subtle and yet it speaks to the power of deepening an awareness of the truth of who we are versus how we want to react.  Each moment of communicative interaction in whatever form is an opportunity to be with what our tone is and how we want to convey it to others.