Why are you Speaking?

If you ever observe yourself while speaking with someone, ask yourself the following question:

Why am I saying this?

More than likely, your answer will be one of two things.

1. I am speaking for the listener.

2. I am speaking for myself.

In the first case, you are passing on information to your listener that you believe they would be better off knowing. This seems fairly straightforward, and I think we assume that most of what we say falls into this category. But the second option is far more interesting, and I believe it is far more common than we would expect.

In the second case, you are sharing information, not because your listener necessarily needs to hear it, but because you need to say it.

Isn’t that interesting?

A lot of what we say, is for ourselves.

We seem to have an innate need to share our innermost thoughts and feelings with those we trust. We want to be heard and seen. We want to be understood.

Most of our communication is done in order to share experiences, thoughts, feelings, and the inner workings of our minds...

We mostly talk for ourselves.

So far, I have not come to a conclusion about this topic. These thoughts are simply observations that I find interesting.

I am confident that both of these reasons for communicating can be either beneficial or detrimental, depending on factors that were not addressed in this essay.

I wanted to share these thoughts with you because I believe there is value in being aware of one’s actions and intentions.

So, give it a shot, observe yourself, and ask, “For whom am I speaking?”

'Shut up, you fools' - I was once a Roman Senator