Our way of communicating today is sure different from yesteryear. There are not many written letters put in envelopes and mailed through our post offices. The only time you see or receive a card is on your birthday or – if you're lucky – at Christmas.
I'll throw out three ideas around communication – of course there are many more, but these ones stand out for me: the imparting or exchanging of information or news; a letter or message containing information or news; and the successful conveying of ideas and feelings.
The delivery of ideas and feelings to me is important and worth exploring. As humans we have several ways of sharing or giving ideas and feelings. At times we forget that body language will often speak louder than words.
You may show a frown, fold your arms, bow your head or make strong contact with your eyes. These are shown just before your words come out.
On the other hand, you may totally withdraw because for you to express what's in your heart is too difficult and only makes the pain worse.
There are things that we can do to say what we need to say so that there is not a build-up of feelings inside. We can phone a friend and express our thoughts and feelings at the moment, we can join groups that are comfortable and safe helping us to realize there are other people in our community that are going through the same things we are going through.
The key is to take that bold step and say "I don't want to be like this, I don't want to go through this thing alone."
I recall in the early '60s, when we had a plane once a month and I was away from home, I would look forward to the beginning of the next month because I knew I would be getting a letter from my mom with news from home and I would feel encouraged and I had something to look forward to.
This hope is in all of us. We just need to be brave and willing to come out of ourselves and share our ideas and feelings.