All communication skills, be it family system exploration or ability to maintain efficient interpersonal contacts, are equally important for a person in position to cooperate with and help others. While verbal communication skills are more connected to our work of mind and can be consciously controlled, non-verbal communication is more subtle and usually we do not pay much attention to our posture and facial expression. We cannot observe our body from outside (except with the help of a mirror), thus we do not know what impression we create in the process of communication with others. This is the reason why I find the skills of proper non-verbal communication the most challenging. To me it is sometimes difficult to control both my body and my words and I usually switch to control over my speech leaving my posture and hand movements out of scope of my attention. Maybe sometimes it interferes with correct understanding and thus I need to work on these skills a bit more.
First of all I will read more works on non-verbal communication including posture, interpersonal distance, head and hand movements and facial expression to know how to react or behave correctly in a certain situation. Yet theory is nothing without practice, so I will ask my friends for help. I will talk to them about some problem and have our discussion recorded. The video will be the source of information for me about my non-verbal communication habits, and I will see what I need to improve. First I will train efficient facial expression, head nods and hand movements in front of the mirror, and then ask my friends to talk to me and record the communication process again. It will show the progress (or the lack of it) and I will work on my non-verbal communication skills further. For sure, I will ask my friends to assess my behavior and tell me what is good and what is not. I think their words and records and scientific works on this type of communication will allow me to improve myself and support my speech with friendly and assuring body language.
The same attention, I think, should be paid to my ability to express empathy and response to affect in verbal communication. These two kinds of skills are very subtle and complicated as they deal with ability to detect, assess and provide proper response to human emotions. I will try to work on these skills using recommendations from the text and assistance of my friends again. It will not be easy, but I will try to learn from my friends what they expect to hear (and see) when they are in distress and need support, and I will try to work out a proper type of response and care-giving – personal, open and sincere. It is the most difficult part of any kind of activity – to understand and share others’ feelings, stress, and grief and be able to react adequately and stay in clear mind. Probably it …