Communication

How do you communicate?

7% is verbal
38% is pitch, tone, volume
55% body language

I am currently in Canmore hanging out with my friend Amy, who was actually one of my wonderful roommates while I worked for Disney Cruise Line. She has been here for a little over 2 years now and she gave birth to one of the cutest little boys I have ever met seven months ago. He is a mover and a shaker! He crawls around everywhere and is perfectly content to just hang out in his play area for hours at a time.

Amy has created this square area with foam tiles for him to hang out in and there must be about 20 toys in there with him. He pushes buttons and tosses things and makes noise and you can just tell that he is loving every minute of it. When he looks at you for the first couple of seconds he's not entirely sure what to make of you and then if you smile at him he gives you this huge toothless grin right back. He's gonna be a real charmer!

This morning though Levi was not doing so well. His tummy seemed to be hurting him. When you are 7 months old how do you communicate with those big people that take care of you? Your language skills are not exactly able to really explain what's going on so you resort to crying and screaming, because you know it makes noise and it gets a reaction. Hopefully those big people are smart enough to just know what's wrong with you and what you need or else you may just have to keep screaming.

Here's something I have noticed. Some people as they grow up still do not develop the language to really communicate how they are feeling about something. Not to say that they do not speak, they do- they just have a harder time articulating what they are saying and/or they don't even want to share. There are people who still communicate by yelling instead of having a calm conversation. If pitch and tone is 38% of how we communicate saying, "I love you" softly would make someone's heart melt, whereas saying "I love you" when yelling could make someone cringe.

I am lucky enough to have had life experiences and to have developed my language skills beyond that of an infant. This is a reminder to me that I can use them! I know there are times where I could easily be communicating much more effectively and something stops me. Therefore- note to self; be aware of how I feel and how to communicate it.

Thanks Levi!