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Wednesday, September 18, 2013

Communication is easy! But hard to understand...

This week we are asked if we communicate different from other people in different groups?  What ways do I communicate differently?

The foundation of this discussion is cultural diversity and what is seen in your colleagues at school, neighborhood, workplace, in the family; considering all the aspects that make up culture, race, religion, political affiliation, sexual orientation, varying abilities, and so on.

I have been asked to share strategies about what could be useful to me communicating more effectively to groups I have been identified with.  Well, there is no strategy for me because I have just learned how to be truthful with those I don’t know and in turn, some do the same for me.  I once walked up to a Korean man sitting just looking out of the window and asked him how he felt about being in America.  He turned to me with amazement and not scorn; said: “I always thought that America was a easy place to live, and not that I am here, I want to go home.”  He then asked me why did I want to know, and I said to him that the look on his face said that he wanted someone to talk to.  He laughed and said ‘is that so!’.  From that conversation, I learned how to say hello in Korean, goodbye, thank you, and see you again. 
While working in the shoe department at Macy’s just to do something for the summer a few years back.  I came across some Japanese.  They were very uptight at first and thought that I didn’t know what they were saying about me because I was American.  I shocked them back when I responded in Japanese and they too felt very ashamed for having to assume that I was ignorant to their culture and language.  That is why you never, ever judge a book by its cover, even in the early childhood field.  Don’t underestimate your children nor the adults you are teaching especially if parents are involved.  If you don’t know the level of intelligence they are carrying with them, it’s best to stay in your place until you know for sure when you should speak or ask questions.  Many problems can be averted from being humble, not humiliating.
To sum all this up will take more than one class session because I am many chosen my ancestors.  I am deeply coded and many will not understand the complexity of my being just through the simple use of words.  Over the years I have learned to communicate beyond just the context of cognition and every cycle of life around the sun, I evolve.  This evolution will never stop even in the next life.  We are not bound or promised this life or the next.  The only purpose we are here to fulfill is to understand why we are here and in between is up to us.
In my tradition, I am considered a father by universal law and by law of human consciousness.  The way I communicate is through the spirit of an individual.  Most may not see that on first contact but my aim is to communicate with a person’s spirit not the flesh.  The flesh can lie, steal, cheat, and be very cunning if not careful, but the spirit never lies…it can although, be very deceptive if you allow it to be.  It depends on the level of spiritual strength that a person has.
I have often been told that I am ahead of my time because of the way I think and it sometimes gets me into situations where I go over peoples’ heads and have to summarize or use a context that is easier to understand or conceptualize.  But one I turned a particular age, I figured out how to facilitate that in which I have learned by simply just asking what a person would like to know and if they want to whole truth or just a summarization?  Usually, this leads to a sit down and we must have a lot of water because it can take a long time.  Once the process starts it always leaves the person satisfied and fulfilled with new understandings and new ways of looking at things in life.  I then feel as if my job was done.  Now those that don’t want to respond or have nothing to say usually are thinking on how to come back and start all over again or ask someone else that gives them what they want to hear instead of the core elements.
Through my mistakes with communicating with people has taught me to be a deep thinker.  Look at what others seem uninteresting because there one will find the answers to many of the issues about life as we think we know it.  In between the lines is where the truth lies!  I don’t think like the average person for a reason, one it’s because of the time of year I was born. Two, the planets that were in alignment when I was born; third, the energy that surrounded me when I was born was passed down from my mother from my ancestors.  It’s not rocket science to figure these things out about yourself, but you have to be willing to accept the truth about who you really are and that makes all the stress of the world not rest on your shoulders alone.
Communication with other people has always been easy for me because I am not afraid to ask how do you say hello in your native tongue?  How do you say thank you in your native tongue?  So far I have learned how to say hello in 7 different languages and dialects.  I have learned how to be formal and informal in many different situations with that foundation I have been able to break all barriers that keep people distant from one another.  The only thing that I haven’t done yet is just travel the world and sit with people just to learn their customs to bring them all together.  That is the work of my doctrine and I am ready…I am ready for the change of this world, and the people who live here as well.


Monday, September 16, 2013

What can a Spy say to you that you can't hear?

This week we were asked to:

For this assignment, again consider what you have been learning about communication skills and styles. Then record an episode of a television show you do not normally watch. 
Watch the show with the sound turned off.
What do you think the characters' relationships are based on the ways in which they are communicating?
What are they feeling and expressing based on the nonverbal behavior you are observing?

Now, watch the show with the sound turned on.

What assumptions did you make about the characters and plot based on the ways in which you interpreted the communication you observed?
Would your assumptions have been more correct if you had been watching a show you know well?
Write about your experience in your blog, including what you learned about communication from this experience and insights or "aha" moments you believe would be helpful to your colleagues.

(Adapted from O'Hair & Wiemann, 2012, p. 154)


I used Hulu on this one and watched some show called "SPY"

Well with the sound turned off, I noticed that the main character (Tim Elliot; played by Darron Boyd) is an clumsy, confused, an idiot, living a double life and has an ex-wife from hell.  lol

His son (Marcus Elliot, play by Jude Wright) who is a manipulative little twit!  Seems to be the ring leader of many of the exploits at his school...his attitude towards his father is that he hates him.  He thinks his father is dimwitted.  Which in fact he is at times but he manages.  The mother he can't stand because he see's that she is bossy and overly manipulative.  He just wants to live a life without the both of them.

As I was watching the show with the sound off, I noticed that Tim is desperately trying to have a relationship with his son and his ex-wife hates him and always is trying to take the son away from him.  The boss (The Examiner) is a freak who doesn't know which gender to exploit but he likes Tim and tries to kill his assistant all the time and it's funny.  The son seemed to be a mastermind of trouble and gets into situations that he almosts learns what his father really does for a living.  Tim is in love with Field partner ( Caitlin ) and he gets fumbled up whenever she is in the room.  From what it looked like with the sound was off was that this was one of those shows that will have you rollin' on the couch.

Of course I had to watch the episodes with the sound off a few times but I enjoyed it because it helped me to train reading people's lips.  This is something that I learned when I was a kid because I had a friend was was mute and I learned a little bit of sign language to communicate with him.   I tried to sound out what was being said but the English accents were kind of bothersome, but I got it in some cases and made my daughter laugh uncontrollably at times cause she thought I was coming up with my own skit or something.


Needless to say, with the sound on it was a different story...

I was on point about the father being a loser and having a dysfunctional relationship with his son and ex-wife.  The whole show was about him and his son trying to work things out and having a room-mate that was always getting into trouble with the law.  He had a good relationship with the son and seemed to be scheming up all kinds of stuff to hid from his dad.  The son was a little gangster, exploiting the other kids into his dirty work,  There was an episode that the son was running a gambling ring out of his bedroom and all the kids were in on it until the room-mate came home and caught him;  then the next thing you know he was in one it....the boy is like Stewie from "The Family Guy".  

My observation about Tim liking Caitlin was right because of his body language and his eyes when she would talk to him.  She liked him and she was trying to hide it as well because they were at work.  And the Boss was a freak!  He was trying to get Tim to do special opps for him all the time showing him favor in the office and the other people were picking up on it and they were not liking Tim at all because of it.  The Boss seemed to always try secret weapons on people just for fun and get caught by his superiors and gets demoted.  The show was funny.  I ended up watching the whole thing after I turned the sound on....

This type of experiment took me back to relating to the relationship between the eyes and ears.  It is very well noticed that the ears can give the brain a picture of what is going on around you if you don't have any sight.  And the eyes can give you sound if you know how to regulate time and space using vibrations.  The body is a wonderful instrument when used properly in most cases and in this assignment, we were asked to use our sense to get what is being communicated nonverbally and verbally.  We were asked to look at what make things click with our own rational in consideration of these communication techniques.

Needless to say, it was a interesting assignment....

Thursday, September 12, 2013

DON'T FORGET TO BREATHE...

Photo: Happy Monday!

There are times when we are so caught up in our everyday lives that we forget to just exhale...take the time to reconnect with yourself...many of us may have that 9 to 5 and that boss is so anal that you just want to push them down and poor coffee on their heads...don't let the stress of the society that YOU built get the best of you.  Yes I said you built this society, because you didn't take control of your own life.  You let the government do it for you...you let fear do it for you...you left your life in someone elses hands...so at this time be thankful that you are still breathing...kids got you stressed...laugh it off...that significant other got you pissed...laugh it off...that boss make you want to put the smack down on them...laugh it off...then exhale and say "you know what, my reality is my own and you don't have control over that"...

Peace!

Sunday, September 8, 2013

When the influence of words changes the way we think...

In my first week of class "Communication and Collaborating in the Early Childhood Field".  We were asked to talk about who used communication in such a way that it changed my way of thinking.  The question is as follows:

For your blog this week, think of someone (e.g., family member, celebrity, politician, friend, or professor) who demonstrates competent communication within a particular context. What behaviors does this person exhibit that make him or her effective? Would you want to model some of your own communication behaviors after this person? Why or why not?

After careful consideration of all the people that I have come across.  It would be difficult because not just one person or thing has influenced me to be the man I am today...If I had to choose, it would be my destiny's behavior that has demonstrated competent communication with me in a certain context to mold me into who I am.  Can destiny be a living energy?  Yes it can depending on the person's will...

I will say that the universe has its ways of teaching us when we really want to know and have knowledge.  In my tradition, it is encouraged to seek what you want to know by asking questions and looking for yourself.  On a metaphysical account, the influences that I have had over these years have been by those who have passed on...(my ancestors)

My thanks go to them all...they are the blueprint in which I am created and facilitate their teachings.  Some may understand what I am saying and some may be confused and it's okay...for those who know not, one day they will understand for themselves.  In my process of learning how to function in this world we live in, I am one of many that utilizes all of nature and it's children for learning.  That is why I stated that it's not just one person or thing that has communicated with me to be who I am today.

I have been ordained to be a teacher and father since I was born to this Earth.  With that being said...I know who I am and why I am here.  I know and understand what I must do to keep that focus alive.  I see it in my children's eyes and the needful eyes of others who look to me for guidance.  So I guess it is safe to say that it is the God in me that has given me what I needed over these years to help me be the communicator, father, teacher I am today...