Meeting, greeting, no beating about the bush .......
What does 'meeting' mean.
Suddenly, in the face of lockdown, whereby remaining at home with little or no face to face meetings, we have all taken to the 'interweb', social media, zoom, House party and whatever other means of communication we have available via our telephones and computers.
Currently I have reverted to 'phone conferencing' managing a large charity with a workforce spread around the county I found phone conferencing a good way of staying in close touch with colleagues.
However, in the current mood, apparently people need to 'see' the people they are meeting or, apparently the meeting doesn't feel real or valid and, whilst it is true that 20% or so of communication is by 'body language', gesture of facial expression most of which might be implied it can also be missed when the communicators are unable to 'see' one another.
I have undertaken a variety of roles over the years, too many to count really and there have been many, many meetings.
I have had constructive meetings, difficult meetings, meetings that have ended in tears, meetings that have resulted in life long friendships and indeed marriages.
I remember a conversation with an artist who was starting a new job as an artist in residence in a community centre. I recall asking, how do begin work as an artist in residence? The answer was of course obvious, well he responded, like any job I have a meeting planned for 9 30 in the morning of my first day.
Meetings can be planned or unplanned, scheduled or unscheduled, there can be chance meetings which lead to changes of direction in an individuals personal or work life.
There is nothing particularly dramatic about the word itself it doesn't especially have hidden meanings, a dictionary definition might be a planned occasion when people come together to discuss something.
So now, in the midst of a pandemic, when a meeting, planned or unplanned, could result in death for the participants it is perhaps sensible to avoid meetings in person.
Apparently a recent death of a German politician was traced to a luncheon where the other guest, who was asymptomatic handed the politician a pepper pot during the meal and the virus was transmitted with tragic consequences.
As a samaritan I would take calls from distressed individuals who phoned in for support. I could hear their voice, I could respond to the emotion with which they shared their sadness but I could not see, their faces.
Did that make the call, or my response, any more or less effective? In some ways I felt that the anonymity helped the discussion to become more profound, thoughts could be shared, confidences and intimacies, all of which helped the sharing between two individuals achieve depths during which the caller's emotional situation and my response could meet both our needs as counsellor and counselled, and which the anonymity helped.
The other advantage of the telephone over say, zoom, is simply that the heavy traffic currently streaming down the world wide web means that the web is overloaded and in areas such as Shotley Fields even on a good day the web is a poor servant at 0.5 megs.
Whatever method we choose in these strange days when tempers are short and relationships strained it is important that we do indeed communicate in order to enable life to continue as effectively as possible.
Isolation is an uncomfortable state of being so to be able to share hopes and ideas and prayers with others by whatever means is crucial for a society in lockdown.
Suddenly, in the face of lockdown, whereby remaining at home with little or no face to face meetings, we have all taken to the 'interweb', social media, zoom, House party and whatever other means of communication we have available via our telephones and computers.
Currently I have reverted to 'phone conferencing' managing a large charity with a workforce spread around the county I found phone conferencing a good way of staying in close touch with colleagues.
However, in the current mood, apparently people need to 'see' the people they are meeting or, apparently the meeting doesn't feel real or valid and, whilst it is true that 20% or so of communication is by 'body language', gesture of facial expression most of which might be implied it can also be missed when the communicators are unable to 'see' one another.
I have undertaken a variety of roles over the years, too many to count really and there have been many, many meetings.
I have had constructive meetings, difficult meetings, meetings that have ended in tears, meetings that have resulted in life long friendships and indeed marriages.
I remember a conversation with an artist who was starting a new job as an artist in residence in a community centre. I recall asking, how do begin work as an artist in residence? The answer was of course obvious, well he responded, like any job I have a meeting planned for 9 30 in the morning of my first day.
Meetings can be planned or unplanned, scheduled or unscheduled, there can be chance meetings which lead to changes of direction in an individuals personal or work life.
There is nothing particularly dramatic about the word itself it doesn't especially have hidden meanings, a dictionary definition might be a planned occasion when people come together to discuss something.
So now, in the midst of a pandemic, when a meeting, planned or unplanned, could result in death for the participants it is perhaps sensible to avoid meetings in person.
Apparently a recent death of a German politician was traced to a luncheon where the other guest, who was asymptomatic handed the politician a pepper pot during the meal and the virus was transmitted with tragic consequences.
As a samaritan I would take calls from distressed individuals who phoned in for support. I could hear their voice, I could respond to the emotion with which they shared their sadness but I could not see, their faces.
Did that make the call, or my response, any more or less effective? In some ways I felt that the anonymity helped the discussion to become more profound, thoughts could be shared, confidences and intimacies, all of which helped the sharing between two individuals achieve depths during which the caller's emotional situation and my response could meet both our needs as counsellor and counselled, and which the anonymity helped.
The other advantage of the telephone over say, zoom, is simply that the heavy traffic currently streaming down the world wide web means that the web is overloaded and in areas such as Shotley Fields even on a good day the web is a poor servant at 0.5 megs.
Whatever method we choose in these strange days when tempers are short and relationships strained it is important that we do indeed communicate in order to enable life to continue as effectively as possible.
Isolation is an uncomfortable state of being so to be able to share hopes and ideas and prayers with others by whatever means is crucial for a society in lockdown.
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