Communication is the basis for all human interaction. It is the foundation of education and learning. It is how we pass knowledge from generation to generation, and in present day how virtually the entire world is informed of what is happening around the world. It is the most powerful tool of social consciousness. We learn how to think and what to think through communication. Effective communication is critical to the student’s Path to Healing; inappropriate communication is responsible for the student’s failure to listen with an open mind and heart to the other, to discern that which is right for the self and that which is not. Failure to listen to another eliminates the ability to learn.

Speaking with open mind and open heart is necessary; sharing that which is known, openly discussing that which has yet to be learned allows the student to teach and to learn with each lesson that is presented. The student who declines these actions will find that The Path to Healing is impossible to navigate and that failure is guaranteed.

The purpose of the Communication Lesson Plan is to teach the student to communicate effectively; appropriate communication never prohibits the sharing of the self or the sharing of the other. In order to learn, the student must speak and listen equally.

Each Communication Lesson Plan has a block to effective communication built into it. Each block is designed to give the student the opportunity to overcome a communication practice that defeats the genuine speaking and listening that are necessary to learning to know and heal the self. If the block is not identified and the student remains unaware of it, it is not possible to know and heal the self. As in the Soul’s Mission Lesson Plan, each of the six Missions is positive in nature and is designed to focus the student’s awareness on the positive pursuit of the Mission, each Mission has a Soul’s Obstacle associated with it which can either enable the aware student to truly grasp the nature of the Mission and pursue it to know and heal the self, or to remain unaware of the block and fail. Similarly, the Communication Lesson Plan provides the choice to use the block to fully understand and practice effective communication that leads to knowing and healing the self, or to remain unaware of the block and thus to fail. The six Communication Lesson Plan obstacles are:
   1. Constricted
   2. Ignoring
   3. Barbed
   4. Dismissive
   5. Timid
   6. Overbearing