Personal View: Nonverbal Communications

This paper was a little difficult for me to write at first because I have never had to analyze my own communication styles and apply concepts to the type of communication styles I have encountered. Here is to learning how to understand communication and the different styles we encounter every day.

I spent a lot of this past week encountering a lot of non-verbal communication. Non-verbal communications is communicating through wordless messages. I have been sick and this has been the most sufficient and effective form of communication for me. While I was in the hospital, to effectively communicate to the nurse my needs sometimes I had to use gestures or facial expressions to let her know I was hungry or letting her know the room temperature was hot. Facial expressions are one of our primary means of conveying emotions. Deaf people rely on facial expressions and gestures to communicate. The machine I was hooked up to, to let the nurse know my stats, I believe is also form of communication. I believe it communicated to the nurse that I was not getting proper oxygen saturation so she was able to increase my oxygen intake base on what was communicated to her. I had a hard time speaking, so I did sometimes have to make some noises to let the nurse know I was in pain and needed assistance. She was able to understand my request and assist me accordingly. I also did a lot of online communication. I sent a lot of emails and messages to communicate with friends and family.

I also have spent a lot of time listening. Listening is making an effort to hear something and to pay attention to either what is being said or the non-verbal communication gestures or messages given to you. Hearing what someone is saying to you is completely different then actually listening. Effective listening is to understand what is being said to you. I had to understand what the Dr. was explaining to me to be able to recover in a timely manner. I also had to remember to put into practice