Judith Hood

Communication is a subject very close to my heart and one which never ceases to fascinate.

If we really think about how we communicate and how many ways we do it, the options are really quite diverse. We of course have speaking, writing, social media, phone, video chats. And then we move into physical ways of communicating such as sign language, facial expression which frankly is huge and not appreciated enough. I was recently conducting a Funeral service for someone who was known to me. One of my 3 Sons was attending the service. He was one of the last people to enter the Chapel. I of course was at the Lectern facing forward. Our eyes met and he gave me the tiniest of nods. The meeting of the eyes said it all. “I am here Mum, you have got this, good luck.” With all 3 of my children the merest meeting of the eyes can speak a thousand words. It is a hugely valuable ability and one which most parents share with their children.

Anybody who spends a good deal of time with another person be it family, friends or colleagues will find a closeness developing and along with it the ability to communicate with just a look. Sometimes it does not even need that look, sometimes we just ‘know.’

This ‘knowing’ is probably the most fascinating and satisfying form of communication. Often found with partners who having lived together for some time have reached the point of ‘knowing’ without even asking, detecting a mood, a desire or a joke. The reasons for being able to communicate without a look or speaking are endless.

For a woman of my age I have what would probably be described as an unhealthy love of Social Media. So much so that in order to move forward with my career I have finally recognised that I need to try and limit my time on social media in order to focus on moving in other directions.

But along with the above come the pitfalls, an absolute classic being the misinterpretation of the written word, most specifically nowadays when we send a text etc. The problem with this form of communication is the lack of inflection in our words or our tone, the lack of emotion in what we have said.

Add to this our human nature and the desire to be needed, wanted and appreciated. If a text is brief for whatever reason or written rather ambiguously we will immediately go into overthinking mode. Instead of waiting for clarification we will assume the worst which will either cause hurt or anger neither of which emotions will do anything to make the situation better.

Something which I find bothers me (and I know exactly how this is going to sound) is just how we would communicate if a species from another World actually found its’ way here. And even if they are already here (who knows?) I hope they work out our rather weird and wonderful way of communicating. I cannot help feeling whoever was in charge of first contact might just mess it up.

When we meet a person who does not speak our language we simply carry on speaking in the hope they will suddenly know what we are trying to say. This is not purposeful; it is instinctual to want to communicate and therefore we do it in the only way we know. Obviously we may try to get our point across by using sign language of sorts but I can almost guarantee that whilst doing this attempt at sign language you will also be speaking in your own language.

But I digress, something which is easy to do given the size of the subject matter. I have not even started with communication with animals. We talk to animals, it is our natural way to communicate so we do it without thinking, in much the same way as previously mentioned. Animals are clever and soon begin to understand basic words and commands but again as is noticed most with Dogs they will pick up on signals that we do not even realise we are giving.

This ability is so heightened in some animals that they can be trained to protect us; as with seizure-alert dogs who have the ability to spot when a seizure is impending. They can alert their owner that a seizure is about to happen and then are trained to help the person as they have their seizure by placing their body between the handler and the floor to break the fall at the beginning of a seizure and activate a device to alert a designated person that a seizure is occurring.

So given all that we know about communication it seems only natural that if there is an afterlife and believe me I am certain that there is; then we should be able to communicate with those who have passed.

This is a subject on which I am only just scraping the surface.

I will continue, soon!