“Am I being mean?” I asked. The response I received was, “No, it’s just another form of communication.”
You see, the woman in front of me in the aquafit class kept backing up. There was no room for me to move without crowding someone else. I was sure it wasn’t intentional and knew I’d been guilty of the same thing on occasion.
Two of us had gently pointed out her roaming and it seemed rude to keep asking her to move. Instead, I chose a non-verbal method of communication. I splashed more as she got too close! This proved to be effective at moving her forward again.
It is said that only 7% of our communication is verbal. I started looking for other examples of this.
On the far side of the pool, two young children danced with abandon to the music playing in the facility. It was easy to tell they were happy and carefree.
Have you ever taken one look at a friend and known there was something wrong? I’d just experienced that. I looked at someone, saw great sadness and gave him a hug. Non-verbally he had let me know he was hurting and I let him know I cared.
We speak with our eyes, our facial expressions and our body movements. My tone of voice can also convey a meaning quite opposite to my words.
If I can read this in others, they must be able to do the same when looking at me. Knowing this, I wonder; is my non-verbal communication keeping people from getting too close or drawing them near?