There have been many books about Communication,
Communication Styles, and Conflict Resolution Techniques to
be used in inter-presonal relationships.
This article is to focus on the less common, but just as
important areas of communication known as:
a) Body Language
b) Tone
c) Indirect Communication
Contrary to popular belief, as mentioned in the romantic
comedy "Hitch" with Will Smith, words are only a small
fraction of the communication.
In fact, according to Dr Robby Bilton, (Director/ Counsellor
of The Centre for Life Management/LMC Relationship Centre,
and Co-author of Love by Design,) says that the following is
roughly how communication is divided.
10% of Communication is conducted through Words.
30% of Communication is conducted through Tone.
60% of Communication is conducted by Body Language.
So what does this mean? We spend the majority of the time
focusing on what people are directly saying, but we are
missing 90% of what people are really saying. It is no
wonder then, that above and beyond couples not having the
same communication modes, or not having relationship skills,
miscommunication can also be occurring because we are not
focusing on the full picture.
Indirect Communication is also an alternate form of
communication, because a person needs to listen to what is
being said underneath the words, and not take the words at
face value only.
Let's give some examples of the less well know forms of
communication.
1) BODY LANGUAGE: When a couple comes for counselling, by
the time they sit down on the couch together, we already
have an idea of the dynamics of the relationship. How? By
how they are sitting on the couch. Is the couple sitting on
opposite ends of the couch? Are they sitting close together,
are they leaning towards each other, away from each other?
Is one couple leaning away from the other even though the
other is leaning towards the other one? Is one person
practically sitting on the other? Are they holding hands?
Does someone have their arm behind the other one? Are they
sitting forward, leaning back relaxed, or sitting up poker
straight? Is someone fidgeting or restless? Is someone
hugging a pillow, or putting a pillow between themselves and
their partner? There is a lot going on, if one is aware.
It is important when communicating to be aware of one's body
language. Often a person may shutdown by something the
first partner is saying or doing, but are not saying
anything, so the first partner continues unaware.
As an example, if someone shuts down, they may lean away
from you, they may or may not be smiling, they may have a
very tight, restricted look on their face. Their eyes will
usually be directed away, looking down, or looking up and
away. If they do maintain eye contact, chances are their
arms will be crossed.
Arms being crossed is fascinating, in and of itself and has
more than one meaning, but as the person doing the
communicating and as the receiver of the communication it
can send different messages. It may need to be checked out
to prevent misinterpretation. Arms crossed could mean:
They are angry
They feel encroached upon or threatened
They are taking a stand or being stubborn
They feel anxious or uncomfortable
They are cold
2) TONE: We once had a couple come in to see us where the
wife's main complaint was that she didn't like the way her
husband talks to her. She said she told him time and again
that he had to stop talking so angrily towards her, and she
couldn't handle the intensity when they talked.
The husband was truly perplexed. He honestly though his
wife must be hypertensive or looking into things that
weren't there because as he explained, he never yells or
raises his voice towards her and he never says anything
derogatory or mean to her. So what was going on?
When explained to him that it was his tone and intensity of
his voice that was conveying anger, he responded by saying…"
Tone? What's tone?"
He never knew that people can react to the tone of one's
voice. He just thought communication was black and white,
you are either yelling or not yelling.
Tone can be much more subtle, but just as powerful. Many
years ago, when I was going through a marriage prep class
with my 1st husband, one of the marriage prep teachers,
pulled me aside one day and asked me, if I ever noticed the
tone of my voice before. I said" No, what are talking
about?" He said that I had a tone to my voice that said
"I'm not worthy" to people.
Now, I was shocked at first because of this man's honestly
and truth. But he was dead on with how I was feeling inside
at the time, and to my surprise it was actually coming
through in my tone.
So the bottom line, you may think you are just communicating
with words, but there is a whole other conversation going
on, that people can pick up by your tone whether it is
intentional or unintentional.
3) Lastly, there is INDIRECT COMMUNICATION
It is very important to be a Direct Communicator, express
what you feel, think or need directly. Communication is a
very subjective art in the first place because everyone has
filters when it comes to interpreting what other people mean
due to your belief systems, your mood, past traumas,
experience and education. What one thing means to you may
not have the same meaning to another person. So if you are
the type of person who uses indirect communication to
express your needs you are complicating your communication
ten fold. You are opening up tons of new interpretations
that are not necessary, in hopes of couching your needs or
hoping that you are not going to cause a reaction from the
person you are asking the request from. The reality is that
you are actually decreasing your chances of the person you
are communicating with understanding what you want, plus you
are potentially frustrating the other person with unclear
messages. Sometimes, indirect communication can also cause
the other person to feel like you are trying to control,
care give or influence them, instead of stating what you
want.
The following are suggestions for dealing with these forms
of communications:
1) Be aware of your own Body Language, Tone and Indirect
Communication.
2) Be aware of your partner's Body Language, Tone and
Indirect Communication.
3) If in doubt , check it out - Ask always in a way so you
are owning your own feelings or observations, such as " I
feel like you may be annoyed with me because I hear a
sharpness in your voice, how do you feel?" OR "I noticed
that your arms are crossed, how are you feeling or what are
you thinking?" If it is an indirect communication, feedback
what you think they are saying and see if you have hit it on
the nose or not. Sometimes, Indirect Communicators still
won't tell you what they are really thinking, so reassure
them that it is safe to voice their option or ask for what
they want.
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