Have you ever had a conversation where you were not given the opportunity to say a word? Where your opponent would simply talk non-stop, not once pausing, blinking, or showing any interest in allowing you to make a peep. I recently had such an incident at the gym. It made me feel awful and small, but it got me thinking.

We have lost the art of good communication. Effective communication requires mindfulness when talking with others, listening with respect, and conveying ideas efficiently. This leads to a deepening of our connection with other people. While most of us are familiar with the 7 C’s of communication: clear, concise, concrete, correct, coherent, complete and courteous, I would love to propose an additional C: Curiosity.  Not the type that killed the cat, but the impulse towards better cognition.