How many times does the word "communication" appear below?

Communication - 1: an act or instance of transmitting a verbal or written message 2 a: a process by which information is exchanged between individuals through a common system of symbols, signs, or behavior as defined by Merriam-Webster's Online Dictionary


This is Wikipedia's take on it: "Communication is the process of conveying information from a sender to a receiver with the use of a medium in which the communicated information is understood by both sender and receiver. It is a process that allows organisms to exchange information by several methods. Communication requires that all parties understand a common language that is exchanged, There are auditory means, such as speaking, singing and sometimes tone of voice, and nonverbal, physical means, such as body language, sign language, paralanguage, touch, eye contact, or the use of writing. Communication is defined as a process by which we assign and convey meaning in an attempt to create shared understanding. This process requires a vast repertoire of skills in intrapersonal and interpersonal processing, listening, observing, speaking, questioning, analyzing, and evaluating. Use of these processes is developmental and transfers to all areas of life: home, school, community, work, and beyond. It is through communication that collaboration and cooperation occur.[1] Communication is the articulation of sending a message, through different media [2] whether it be verbal or nonverbal, so long as a being transmits a thought provoking idea, gesture, action, etc."

Just communicating what

communication is gives

me tired head.

The majority of my day today was spent in meetings. The first was in a meeting with 6 other people: 3 therapists that I treat with on a daily basis. We work very well together (we actually seem to somehow communicate - imagine that?!!?!), our immediate "team leader" (who by the way did not say ONE single word in the whole hour and a half we were together - apparently our "team" has not been communicating with her as she has no inkling of what is going on), Our team leader's boss, and then...dum de du dum....the big head honcho - head of administration for our department. This meeting was set up because for the past 4 weeks, I have been trying to facilitate communication regarding mutual patients between our facility and another facility. I did not communicate this fact that I was taking this initiative to the head honcho, and that did not go over well. She felt I was "re-inventing the wheel' and all of the communication I had done, should have been cleared with her first. After hearing this bit of info, I had paged her 3 times to actually talk about things, and she was unable to call me back. After her non-response to my attempt to talk - I sent just one more email setting out my opinion on things - albeit in a very professional manner. But, have you ever been able to say something that you feel very strongly about in an email and not come across as a B@%*@? Well, apparently, neither have I..... After continuing to communicate via email she had managed to have me in tears for about 5 days straight and I had her to the point of sending emails to the physician that I work with regarding my intentions and her concerns about my actions.

We had communicated via email, as both of our schedules were apparently too busy to get together to even talk on the phone. But it escalated to the point that we had to meet face to face. Today's meeting for the most part was productive. We actually did successfully communicate and were able to clear up some muddy points and even made nice. She understood that her words and actions in her emails upset me - but that I am now over it and ready to find a solution and move on. I learned that you don't buck administration......

I think about how many hours I wasted on all of this miscommunication - miscommunication about how she felt, miscommunication about politics and procedures, all the time that led up to my feeling lousy and crying for 5 days - all about something that took and hour and a half to sit down and talk out face to face.

Do we waste our time with email? Do we use it as an excuse NOT to talk face to face? If the head honcho and I had just talked at least on the phone for 5 min - would this have blown up like it did? I find myself telling my patients "if you need me - contact me via email - I am much better at communicating via email" I am now thinking that this is not so true. Do my patients or my family or my friends really get what I am saying via email - or do they need to hear that tone in my voice to know what my words REALLY mean? (does typing in all caps make more of a point than not?) I take the time to send a quick email to say "just thinking about ya" but how much more would it mean to pick up the phone and call? didn't we take the time to do that before email? how do we slow down enough to do that again?

To all of those that I love dearly - please know that I love you - but I can't find the strength to call to communicate that to you tonight. I am going home to go to bed! I definitely have tired head after today. Why is communication so hard?