Lee-Anne, my co-Instructor, made this great comment in one of our meetings this week.

When we use the Gordon Model, we're intending first of all to separate out behaviors (things you can take a picture of, or record with a microphone) from labels or interpretations of those behaviors. A behavior is something someone actually does, and the interpretation – the story about what they did and why they did it and what that means – is applied afterwards by your mind. It's influenced by your past history, the current moment, who you are, who they are, and a variety of other factors.

I feel fascinated as I explore the difference between these behaviors – things others actually said and did – and what story my mind comes up with in relationship to those behaviors. Because the truth is always inside the other person, and there's a lot of creative space available when I give myself the freedom to not know it instead of making up a story to fill the space.

Communication and storytelling require completely different skills, and one of the reasons I enjoy this work is because the former is in pretty short supply!