Communication break down.....

In our crazy, wonderful world we now have more ways that ever of communicating with one another............Then why do we seem to be getting worse at it?!!
In the past year or so I have gone through quite a cleansing and growth period of finding ways to realise my own worth, assert myself in my own life and generally grow as a person and unique individual. All great things BUT what has come to my attention more recently is that throughout this journey while I have believed that my actions were about standing up for myself, stating my worth to the world and generally trying to 'grow' into the next stage in my life, I missed a pretty fundamental lesson - communicating  clearly with others!
I can say I generally pride myself on my communication skills but I am also the first to admit that I generally avoid conflict and in doing so I am also ready to admit that I have missed a valuable lesson - not assuming things about others and their motives....
I am quick to admit that I am a highly reactive and sensitive soul and because of that I have made some assumptions about the motives of others and their actions and I have acted upon these assumptions to separate myself from people in my life. At the time I was very self-righteous about my actions and now, with the blessing of hindsight as well as the blessing of a few people opening my eyes to my own blindness, I see that I jumped to conclusions and took the easy way out rather than take a deep breath, growing more of a back bone, gathering some energy and talking directly to those involved to get a more complete picture than the one I had formed in my own mind.
Having now had to opportunity to face my demons - my fear of honest confrontation, in a gentle and honest way, I realise how many times in my life I push forward, make rash decisions and perhaps cut ties with people based on my assumption of the situation when instead I could have simply made a call or arranged a meeting and just asked what was really going on. Another big lesson for the year thanks very much!
Many, MANY years ago when I first started out in full time work, my boss said to me "never assume anything. When you assume you make an ass out of you and me" I have to say it took me a long time to work out what she meant and in some ways it seems I am still working it out!
So my message today, for me and for you, is communicate people and catch yourself in the making of assumptions - you just might be surprised what you find out............