Nonverbal communication

Tell Me a Story Tuesday – Spring is Sprung Edition

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Hello my loyal band of followers! I thought I would keep up the visual idea from last week and revisit a type of story I’ve asked people to share before…

Over the weekend my family made the trip into Washington, D.C. to see the famous cherry blossoms. They really are beautiful, and I highly recommend making the trip to seem them (a word to the wise, early mornings and later afternoons are much less crowded – you can actually see the trees through the people then!). We, of course, were good citizens and took lots of pictures. Some of them are still in the camera, but I did take a few shots with my cell phone. Looking at the pictures earlier I had an idea for today’s story challenge…

Tell me a story in 3-5 pictures. In the past I challenged you to do it in one, but today I’m giving you a little more wiggle room. Here’s what I had in mind.

Jefferson Memorial through the Cherry BlossomsSisters admiring the view from the Jefferson MemorialClose Up of Cherry Blossoms

Feel free to post your story in pictures to your blog and share the link here. As always, mind the rules. And most importantly, have fun with it!

Spring is sprung folks – Tell me your spring story in pictures!

Miss Communication – It’s not what you said, it’s how you said it.

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Communication is a wonderful thing, it keeps us informed, allows us to share and bond along life’s weary road, and in many ways is under-appreciated. Everything we do, every move we make, every word we speak communicates volumes about us. How often do you take time to think about how you communicate?

There’s verbal and nonverbal communications. There’s written communication, and electronic communication. New forms of communication like Twitter and Facebook and texting have changed the way we communicate. All of these things are great. I’m sure you would agree that these are important. But do you stop and think about how you’re using it?

We’ve all been there. You write an email (or a text, or tweet) and is totally not received in the way it you thought it would. Email (and texts and tweets) can’t duplicate sarcasm or teasing in the way the human voice can. Or you’ve been following someone’s blog and finally get to hear them speak, only to learn that you can’t really connect with them when you hear them speak because their voice sounds so different from the way you imaged.

We all tend to get so busy and focused on what we want to say that we forget to think about who will be hearing the message. In my opinion, this is the most important part. It doesn’t matter how well crafted our message is if your audience isn’t able to understand the message, or interprets it incorrectly. Think about what you want them to hear, understand and remember – not what you want to say. There is power in every word you choose, so choose wisely.

Take a few minutes today and think about how you are communicating. Are you using video the right way? Are you sending emails when I phone call would be faster and save confusion? Are the words or action you’re choosing the right ones for the medium and the audience? A moment listening to your communication may just help you find a better way to say what you have to say.

Remember it’s not always what you say, it’s how you say it that can get you into trouble.

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