Over the first three parts, we’ve focused on our responsibility for ensuring that what we intend to communicate is understood by the other person. Yesterday, we discussed Heather’s excellent point that – still – when it comes right down to it, people will interpret according to their own belief systems. Most of the time, this is unconscious. This makes it no less true. It’s simply one of those “Laws of Life.”

Of course, you and I fall victim to this very same Law. We tend to interpret through our belief systems. Ours are also firmly in place and just as vulnerable to misinterpretation as that of others.

Sometimes, we take things out of context. Other times, we misunderstand one’s entire point completely. And, still other times, because we attach a certain meaning to one word based on our own past experiences, we see the person as meaning something totally different than what they intended.

Has anyone ever done any of those to you, unintentional as it was? I think it happens to all of us from time to time. It can be frustrating, can’t it? It’s also an excellent r