Do you sometimes feel anxious about speaking to someone else, especially getting to know an unfamiliar person in various settings as School, Corporate, Healthcare, Recreational environments, etc.? Given our various individual personalities, past and present ideologies, and the ever-advancing communication technology, effective communication that results in genuine connection and trust development has eluded many in the general population resulting in mistrust and poor relationships. More than ever before, many of us palpitate from unreal fears in an attempt to speak to and get to know others.

This guidebook highlights several factors which affect effective communication. The book content is based on Godly Principles and its guidance for overcoming reservations and communication anxieties to genuinely interact and build trust with one another.

REVIEWS
Author Nonye Aghanya has an interesting backstory that lends itself to the topic she is discussing. As an immigrant to the U.S. from Nigeria (and the bigotry she has encountered as such) and as a person deeply immersed in the medical field as both a patient and a nurse for many years, she has developed an understanding of the importance of good communication and trusting those around you. Her unique life experiences led her to write the first book about communication between patients and medical staff, and based on the warm reception to that book, she decided to write another that she hoped would be more generally applicable, since obviously communication and trust are essential ingredients for any successful working or personal relationship. I give the author credit for identifying and bringing forth several key areas that interfere with good communication, such as fear of judgment, reservations about the other person (based on preconceived ideas or biases), and difficulty with empathy, to name a few. However, my issue comes with the fact that her solution to pretty much every challenge is the same: "Just put your trust in the Lord."While I respect the strength of her faith and also don't argue that things sometimes do seem to improve when a person of faith takes this approach, this repeated advice is not sufficient to carry a book entitled "Principles for Overcoming Communication Anxiety and Improving Trust." There are, in fact, very few paragraphs in the entire book (beyond the Introduction) that don't contain quoted scripture, a reference to a Bible passage, or at the very least the explicit mention of God, Jesus, or Christianity. If someone is very Christian and likes to find the Biblical correlations to any topic being discussed, they will probably appreciate Aghanya's approach to the subject. For all other readers, be forewarned that there don't seem to be "principles" here really, because that implies more than one. Additionally, because Aghanya writes from her experience (advice we are often given as writers), she still mostly addresses communication styles and issues through the lens of patient/caregiver, which was the subject of her first book but not allegedly the subject of this book. Of course, the reader can extrapolate and generalize her suggestions to their own situations, but I feel that it was the author's responsibility to make sure the information was presented in a more universal way if she was going to state that this was the intention of the book. The thing I take away most from reading this book is that she is probably a lovely person. I think she probably works hard to serve her nursing clients well and she is dedicated to making the world a more comfortable place for others because she has experienced so much physical, emotional, and mental discomfort herself. I wish her the best.

Crystal VINE VOICE