In my self reflection, I identified that I have a tendency to:

Interrupt My Children And Others

– when they are talking to me. It’s not because I am trying to be rude, it’s because I will get a thought that I want to share with them.

For example – one of my son’s may be talking to me about a video game that is important to him and I will be saying “mhm”, but in my mind I may get the thought:

“What do you all want for dinner?”

So while he is talking to me about his world – I interrupt and say what is on my mind – which is not related to what he was sharing with me.

I understand that:

This Is Rude.

I’m communicating ” Forget you! What I have to say carries more weight.”.

Last Friday, I saw this Mel Robbins clip on how to check people who interrupt – I watched it over and over. I read the comments and just was like dang – I see this in me!

One of the comments said something like ” Oh, I’m sorry that the middle of my sentence interrupted the beginning of your sentence.”….I felt that.

Even though it hurt – I appreciated it.

I felt sad, but also hopeful in my ability to shift.

But how? Then I thought:

My Children

…they are with me the most.

I immediately had my boys watch the video with me.

Then I told them to apply that strategy to me.

I Apologized To Them

for having cut them off all these years. They forgave me and weren’t even thinking about how I had been dropping the ball.

After watching the video, we role played. One of them began talking, I interrupted, and they practiced the strategy that was outlined in Mel Robbin’s video.

This brought me much excitement.

Here comes growth and development for myself and my children.

I was going to work on checking myself in this area. My son’s were going support me in this and learn to assert themselves with an authority figure.

Well, today, my boys were talking to each other. I jumped in and asked one of them an unrelated question.

One of my son’s turned to me and said “Mom, I’m talking to X right now, I’d love to hear what you are saying after I am done talking to him”.

I said “okay “, then:

Immediately Stopped Talking.

I sat there watching my son’s continue with their conversation – thinking, “Wow, he did it!”.

I wanted to jump and down with joy.

I watched him and his brother continue talking, right after it was said.

Then after they finished talking – that son turned to me and said, ” Mom, now I would like to hear what you had to say?”.

You guys! I jumped up and high fived him.

I was thrilled. I told him his smooth, direct communication made me want to give him unlimited tech time! bahahahaha (he then tried to negotiate for it later 🙂 )

This son, shared that he did this with his dad too, on a separate occasion.

I asked him – how it felt communicating that way?

He told me fine.

I told him that if he can do this with me and daddy – then he should be able to do this with:

Anyone In The World.

To me, this work is just as important as learning math or science – if not more important.

This way of operating leads to healthier relationships. Fostering spaces where collectively, people feel more heard and seen.

I am amazed that this way of holding others accountable was shared with my sons last Friday and one of them executed it over the weekend and then with me today. Just – YES!

I am so thankful! My children are helping me to grow and holding me accountable. I am not offended by this.

This is generational wealth!

A new way of communicating that holds space for everyone is being formed. This is what I want to see spread within my living family and to those not yet born.

Imagine families where the healthiest communication occurs! Not harmful communication patterns.

I am continuing to work on my active listening and on holding my thoughts. When I do interrupt out of habit – I seek to catch myself and immediately say ” I apologize for interrupting you – please continue with what you were saying…”. Most people, have been gracious and said ” That’s okay.” and then continued talking or told me they were done.

I am thankful for the opportunity to grow alongside others each day.

One of the greatest projects we will ever undertake is:

Bettering Ourselves Under The Guidance Of The Holy Spirit

… with support from those around us.

It’s easy to tell others what to do. It’s hard to “do the work” on ourselves. Yet – soo rewarding.

Thanks for reading this praise report. I hope it encourages you to identify your poor communication patterns and implement strategies to improve.

Share with your crew.

Written w/out shame,