How will humans communicate in 2050?
4 ways to upgrade your communication today
There is a running joke in my family, every time we witness a less than intelligent act by one human or another, we say “no wonder the Aliens don’t talk to us yet”. Yes this is of course, a tad on the judgemental side and a sort of joke, but as the saying goes, “behind every joke there is some truth”.
The truth in this case, is alluding to an advanced intelligent life force somewhere out there, that has the ability to communicate in such an efficient way that make us humans look rather, well, primitive.
This article however, is not about Aliens, it is about humans current communication protocols, our limitations and errors. It is here that I want to offer a possible upgrade that can be had today!
Hi my name is Adam, and for the past 5 years I have embarked on a journey of discovery into human behaviour, language, emotions and culture. Along the way I have done my best to remain the student. A humbling experience in itself. And while I do not profess to have all the answers, I have stumbled upon some golden nuggets that I feel could benefit others.
The following are some of my favourite communication protocols that have served and continue to serve me well. As with all knowledge it has been passed down from the masters of time, and this work I attribute to Don Miguel Ruiz, I strongly recommend going on your own quest of discovery with him!
So let’s dive straight in to the four communication protocols.
Protocol #1: Be impeccable with your word.
This is a vast subject one which can be explored through various human social dynamics, but at its heart it is simple; express with words that are of your highest integrity, where you do not loose your power to judgments of others, where what you say is what you mean. As all apparent simple things in life, they take some serious attention to execute. It’s made all the more difficult by the social expectations and “agreements” of your particular culture.
You see this is where the essence of this protocol gets obscured, when external influences are projected on to us or more accurately said, we chose to take on our cultural “norms”. Most of this of course, is done at a subconscious level, some could argue that it’s a base survival reaction to be “accepted” by the group; our parental influences, our friends, influencers, celebrities, academics and governments. All contribute to the noise that is transmitted out to their environment, the less one is aware of this influence, the less one is awake to the effect it has on our every day life.
No this is not a “woke” article, another example of our cultural influence on the power of words. What I am pointing out to is what the “original G” Carl Jung once said, “those that look outside dream, those that look within awaken”. Awaken to the depth and reality of the complex human condition, psyche and personality. Awaken to how you communicate to the external world, what words are you projecting out to your environment, to those around you.
Now I am under no illusions of the difficulty of this first task, it doesn’t get any easier from here either! I am aware of how challenging it is to remain in your highest integrity, in alignment to your highest values, in your power, so as to not be affected by the world around you, all one has to do is be put on hold for the eighth time, while trying to get to the bottom of why PayPal is holding on to thousands of dollars of your money for no apparent reason, I get it! But having said all of that, the more we practice coming back in to our integrity, power and alignment, the better we get at it, from there you will discover a whole new reality that was being obscured from view baby the projected noise around you.
So to summarise, the first stage of any self upgrade, improvement or evolution is to take full responsibility, and here we take full responsibility for what comes out of our mouth. Not easy, but then again nothing worth doing typically is.
Protocol #2: Don’t take it personally
This ties nicely in to what I have already mentioned with regards to what is being projected on to us from our environment. If we were to take everything that is directed at us personally we would inevitably end up in a very precarious psychological position, to put it mildly. You see we are continually interacting with other humans all the time, in one way or another, we are more often that not in a state of fear, the very environment most of us find ourselves in is based in paradigms of fear, the symptoms of this paradigm are: scarcity, competition, risk, exposure, survival, victimhood, hate, jealousy to name a few. These are real life projections, it’s how we interact with them that makes the difference.
One way to begin to improve how we react to the world around us is to not take it personally. Wether we are being attacked verbally, physically, emotionally, financially or any other way, the core of this protocol is all about not taking it personally, but instead recognise the truth beneath the layers. One of those layers is the persona. The persona is the mask we wear to the outside world. It is the first line of defence humans develop when living full time in the paradigm of fear mentioned already. The main role of this persona is to protect the next layer in our defence system, the ego. The inner critique, the voice in your head the part of our psyche that is scared, needs coddling, safety and a false sense of security.
This is what gets agitated when someone projects an insult at you, if you take it personally it is simply your ego getting a little nudge, if it is activated and you react, then there may be an area that you feel is true, this must be welcomed as it is here where your next upgrade, evolution or improvement can be found. If however, one is familiar with the next layer, the shadow or unconscious, then we can recognise those projections that do not resonate with us. It is here that one can begin to practice the skill of not taking it personally, by recognising and empathising where that other person might be feeling. In other words, if someone is in a state of fear, they may cast an insult or unpleasant remark at you, but with this protocol in place we can navigate that interaction in a way that it does not escalate in to a full blown confrontation, instead we may just be able to receive that persons expression without again loosing our power to an external projection.
Protocol #3: Do not make assumptions
If there is one communication skill that you take away today, it is this. We have all experienced that moment, when chatting with someone, and during the conversation you find yourself attempting to guess what the other person might be thinking, from those assumptions you formulate a narrative, and before you know it your are talking to that person as if that narrative is accurate or even true.
This one protocol could be at the heart of world peace, I know that’s a rather bold statement, but I truly believe it is. So much conflict is seeded from a misunderstanding, a misbelief or assumption. The easiest way to navigate this is to ask the other person. Again a simple solution to such a complex problem. But truly, this is something that is not natural to do in our society. We appear afraid to hear the answer, its like honesty, vulnerability and transparency are these negative and useless aspects of the human condition. I can assure you from experience that through these expressions we connect a deeper level with each other and navigate life with a sense of grace and ease.
Protocol #4: Always do your best
In any give moment, we can be at our less than optimal state; tired, hungry thirsty, ill etc. But despite all this, we can find a place for ourselves, where we can recognise that we are doing our best, in that moment. This checking in with yourself, has a powerful recalibrating property. It allows us to confirm our actions and ensure we are heading in an affirmative direction.
I remember my mother saying “as long as you do your best, that’s all that matters”. And of course there were times when I knew I wasn’t doing my best, and the results showed that, but as an adult, we have the broader view that we are responsible for our reality, our life choices.
This final protocol is perhaps the one that can elude us the most. As no one other than us knows if we are doing our best. So I encourage you to be impeccable with your word towards yourself, if you are not honest with yourself, then the house is being built on unstable foundations and how can we expect to achieve our fullest potential.
Now I encourage you to go out there and interact with the world with these four protocols in mind. Like any new upgrade it takes a little while to get used to, but once you do, going back to the old ways is just not an option. Welcome to Human 2050!
My name is Adam Gornall and I am a former elite soldier with the Royal Marines Commando, turned entrepreneur, mentor and life coach. I support men become empowered through their hero’s journey to individuation. My clients are able to find resilience and stability from where they can reach for their goals, ambitions and bring their gifts to the world. I offer mastermind groups, retreats and one on one programs. Reach out for a chat, find out more or enrol in one of my offerings through the website www.adamgornall.com.
