The Five Keys to Mindful Communication: Using Deep Listening and Mindful Speech to Strengthen Relationships, Heal Conflicts, and Accomplish Your Goals
Good communication is essential to any healthy relationship, whether it’s between spouses, family members, friends, or co-workers, and mindfulness—the practice of nonjudgmental awareness—can help us communicate more effectively and meaningfully with others in our personal and professional lives. Here, Susan Chapman, a psychotherapist and long-time Buddhist practitioner, explains how the practice of mindfulness awareness can change the way we speak and listen, enhance our relationships, and help us achieve our goals.
Chapman highlights five key elements of mindful communication—silence, mirroring, encouraging, discerning, and responding—that make it possible for us to listen more deeply to others and to develop greater clarity and confidence about how to respond.
Susan Gillis Chapman grew up in Vancouver, BC. She received a BA in Literature and an MA in Buddhist and Western Psychology. Her career as family therapist included ten years working with domestic violence. In 1988 she and her son, Sheehan, moved to Alaska where she served as clinical director of a community counseling center. In Juneau, she met her life- partner, Jerry.
In 1974 Susan met her first Buddhist teacher, Chogyam Trungpa, Rinpoche. She later studied with Thrangu Rinpoche, Abbot of Gampo Abbey. Under his direction, in 1997 Susan and Jerry attended a traditional ‘three-year-retreat. Susan served as retreat leader for another six years, mentored by Buddhist teacher Pema Chodron.
In 2008 Susan and Jerry moved to Vancouver and in 2012 Susan published her book, The Five Keys To Mindful Communication. She spent the next 8 years traveling extensively to teach programs on mindful communication, Buddhist meditation, and as faculty for Karuna Training
In the summer of 2020, Susan was diagnosed with breast cancer. She went into retreat and dedicated the next few years to healing. Her new book from Shambhala Publications, Which Way is Up?, is based on her cancer journey as a path of spiritual healing. It will be published in 2024.