Communicating Mindfully cover

Communicating Mindfully: Mindfulness-Based Communication and Emotional Intelligence

Communicating Mindfully describes a method for improving communication skills that combines the study of communication theory with training in mindfulness. This powerful combination reveals how people often interpret the events of their lives unconsciously and communicate habitually and unproductively as a result.

Meet the Author

Dan Huston

Dan Huston, MST

Professor of Communication and Writing

NHTI—Concord’s Community College

Professor Huston teaches mindful communication and writing in the English Department at NHTI-Concord’s Community College. He has been incorporating mindfulness, meditation, and emotional intelligence in his communication curriculum for over twenty years and was awarded NHTI’s 2008 Chancellor’s Award for Teaching Excellence. Huston is the author of the textbook Communicating Mindfully: Mindfulness-Based Communication and Emotional Intelligence, which has been adopted at numerous colleges and universities, as well as other publications on mindful communication. His Communicating Mindfully course is required of students in several degree programs at NHTI and strongly recommended for others. The course has doubled as a form of professional development for faculty, and it serves as the foundation of NHTI’s Mindful Communication Certificate (https://www.nhti.edu/program/mindful-communication/).

Huston has worked extensively with a variety of departments to expand mindfulness in their courses, including information technology, dental, addiction counseling, human services, and early childhood education. This training has inspired curriculum development to infuse mindfulness in courses ranging from cross-cultural literature to internship practicums.

Huston provides training to businesses and educational institutions, and he regularly presents at professional conferences. He has received training at the Center for Mindfulness in Medicine, Health Care and Society at the University of Massachusetts Medical School.

While some communication textbooks mention mindfulness, this one features it. The author invites readers to explore how being fully present to the moments of their lives can help them become more aware of internal and external influences that exist in those moments. As a result, readers become aware of and modify their unproductive habits, judgments, and reactivity. They learn to make more informed communicative choices that result in increased connection (with others and themselves), as well as increased productivity at home, at work, and at school. The book combines anecdotal examples with research in the fields of mindfulness, communication, and emotional intelligence. Readers find it engaging and note that it is markedly different from the stereotypical “dry” textbook. Each chapter concludes with an application journal and a link to a related meditation designed to help readers apply chapter content to their lives.

Mindfulness helped me through a difficult time in my life and “woke me up” to the expansiveness of each moment. I discovered that I have the strength to “sit with” discomfort when it arises, which gives me insight and courage to face challenging or painful experiences. I also discovered that each moment is full of nearly limitless potential if we pay attention to our thoughts and emotions, as well as listen fully to others with an open mind, without imposing judgments or inaccurate expectations. As a result, my communication improved with nearly everyone in my life—colleagues, family members, and friends—and my creativity flourished. I wondered if infusing mindfulness into my teaching of communication would impact students in similar ways. It did. Their continuous discoveries helped them manage challenges such as anxiety, ADHD, lack of confidence, and more. Their ability to connect and empathize with others increased. Their relationships became richer. Their ability for focused attention increased. Their confidence and happiness grew. All of these changes positively impacted the way they communicated with themselves and others. Over the years, their successes inspired me to write a textbook that not only documented some of the benefits I had seen occur over the years, but one that would also help future generations benefit in ways that can help all of us live more successful and satisfying lives.

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