Review Detail

The Five Keys to Mindful Communication is a significant book aimed at strengthening relationships, healing conflicts, and accomplishing your goals through effective communication. Chapman explains how we can use key tools such as silence, mirroring, and encouragement to improve our relationships with others. With chapters on the keys to mindful presence, listening, speech, relationships, and responses, Chapman shares engaging stories and practical tools for developing your own communication skills.

Using the analogy of the three colors of a stoplight (red, orange and green), Chapman shows us how to be more aware of how we are communicating, and to recognise what style of communication we are using. For example, we learn how to recognise—to be mindful—when we are in an 'orange light' situation, and how to manage our feelings before they escalate to the red light zone. As Chapman says, mindfulness “strengthens our emotional immune system...so that we are less affected by the small, everyday problems in our relationships."

Chapman helps us to understand what it looks like and means to have a “we-first” attitude rather than a “me-first” mindset. Being “we-first” can strengthen our relationships and support us in maintaining mindfulness in our daily lives. Having an awake body, tender heart, and open mind connects us to our own healthiness and green light emotions.

Written with insight and clarity, this book is an essential aid to communication with every person we encounter in our lives. Anyone with a keen interest in improving their relationships and effective communication will find some valuable information when reading this book.