Mediation | Mindful Emailing

When communicating in person, the emotional tone of a message is conveyed and understood more accurately. In contrast, emails can easily be misinterpreted because they can be read by numerous individuals multiple times. This can lead to misunderstandings that can quickly escalate.

1. Begin by taking one conscious breath. If this is a particularly sensitive situation, calm your mind with a few minutes of Mindfulness Meditation or Walking Meditation.
2. Mindfully reflect that on the receiving end, there are one or more human beings. Human beings just like me. If this is a particularly difficult situation, it may be useful to visualize the receiver or receivers in your mind and to engage in a few minutes of the Just Like Me / Loving Kindness exercise.
3. Write your e-mail.
4. Before sending, mindfully reflect on the insight that if the emotional context of your message is unclear, the receiver's brain will just make something up that is likely more negative than you intended. Put yourself in the receiver's shoes, pretend you know nothing about the sender's (your emotional context, pretend also that you have a negative bias, and read your e-mail. Revise your e-mail if necessary.
5. Take one conscious breath before pressing Send. If this is a particularly delicate situation -for example if you are writing an angry e-mail to your boss or your subordinate - take three slow, conscious breaths before pressing Send.
   Feel free to change your mind about pressing Send.

The approach we will learn can be applied to any form of written communication, including mail, email, and text messages. The fundamental rule is to take a moment to think and calm down before hitting the "send" button. It's also important to choose to talk in person when needed.