Find Your Unique Communication Style

Take The Quiz!

GraceSOULutions COMMUNICATES… Opinions

Are you afraid of conflicts so you avoid it as much as possible?
What are some opinions that you have that other people may agree or disagree with?
What opinions are you willing or unwilling to share with others?
Why are you willing to share your opinions or not?

Everyone has an opinion, and I am sure you have an opinion about something. I know I do.

Whether or not you are comfortable sharing your opinion with other people may be in question based on how comfortable you are with sharing your opinion with others.

How comfortable are you when someone agrees or disagrees with your opinions? Or a better question might be how comfortable does a person make you feel when you agree or disagree with them?

The person’s response or reaction when you share your opinion may either make you feel comfortable in sharing your opinion further or make you feel that perhaps it’s better to keep your opinion to yourself to avoid any conflict, especially when you or the other person has a disagreeing point of view.

Here are five tips or questions to ask yourself before you consider sharing your opinions:

Tip #1 TRUE, is it true?

Are there facts that can back up your opinion? Are there facts that can back up the other person’s opinion when there are differing opinions?

Tip #2 HELPFUL, is it helpful?

Is the information being shared helpful to each person? How is it helpful? Does it bring more knowledge or value to each of the people involved?

Tip #3 INSPIRING, is it inspiring?

Does the discussion of the opinions inspire the person to take action? What action might that be? Does it inspire growth, learning, or wisdom?

Tip #4 NECESSARY, is it necessary?

Is it necessary to persuade the other person to think the way that you do? Is it necessary for you think the way that person wants you to? Is it necessary to continue the conflict when both parties are unable to agree?

Tip #5 Kind, is it kind?

Are the words you say and use impeccable? It is okay to disagree and have arguments; however, are the words being used during the argument kind? You can state the way you feel and think without name calling and being vicious.

The next time you are in a communication situation, and you are not sure whether or not to share your opinion, just remember THINK:

Is it True ?

Is it Helpful ?

Is it Inspiring ?

Is it Necessary ?

Is it Kind ?

If you are driven to communicate with confidence, have your messages, be heard and understood, and repair any communication breakdown in your personal communication relationship, then you should take a look at my ebook 5 Strategies For Effective Companion Communication! Grab your free copy by signing up below:

Get The eBook

Warm regards,

Grace CW Liu
Communication Navigator
W: GraceSOULutions.com

ABOUT GRACE

Grace CW Liu believes there is a solution to every problem including communication and conversation problems. Everyone can find the solution they seek by using the guidance of grace that is in you, with the grace of spiritual support, and Grace –me– as your Communication Navigator and support system.

My passion is to help sensitive, conflict-phobic, and introverted women have effective communication so they feel valued and heard in any conversation.

Through studying and observations, I’ve realized why communication breakdown occurs and the solutions to solving those problems. I’ve presented these solutions so that communicative partners can achieve effective communication!

GraceSOULutions COMMUNICATES… Messages (Hidden)

What hidden messages have you discovered or understood behind words that were spoken to you? 

What are some messages or meanings you have hidden behind your spoken words?
Why is it easy or difficult for others to understand those hidden message behind your words?
Why is it easy or difficult for you to hear and understand other people’s hidden message behind their spoken words?

Depending upon your background and the culture you grew up in, you may or may not understand about the hidden messages spoken behind words.

Here is an example: If you’ve ever watched the TV show ‘Fresh Off The Boat’ there was an episode that really jumped out at me.

In the episode where Jessica and her sister talked on the phone and Jessica’s sister was saying how excited she was to visit her family for Thanksgiving, there was a subtext of the meaning behind each of the words being spoken.

Even though we may understand the literal words, there was a hidden message, a subtext of the meaning behind those spoken words between the sisters.

I can tell you… this is very common in Asian culture. I know because I lived and continue to live with it throughout my life.

I have always needed to be careful about what I said because the meaning behind the words is just as equally important, and I dared not to offend anyone or try to get myself or anyone in trouble.

Through years of training with my parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, and all the other Asian adults and children I have encountered, I have become highly skilled in understanding the hidden messages behind their spoken words.

My husband, on the other hand, did not and continues to try to learn this skill of understanding the hidden message. You see my husband is Scottish and his family members are very direct.

What they say is exactly what they mean, but I have discovered that sometimes even with his family there would be a bit of meaning behind their conversations. However, I would say at least 90-95% of the time there were no hidden messages behind their spoken words.

In my family though, 95-100% of the time there are definitely hidden messages behind the spoken words.

If you are thinking it is difficult and complicated to speak with my family, you are correct!

Even the questions that my family ask have hidden meanings behind them. A simple ‘how are you’ doesn’t just mean ‘how are you?’ It can mean how is your job, are you still living in the same apartment, when are you going to…?

I had to teach my husband about understanding the hidden messages, hidden questions, subtext, reading between the lines, and so on.

Here are three tips that I shared with my husband that may help you to understand the hidden messages behind the spoken words, the subtext, and read between the lines, so to speak:

Tip #1 Rationale for the question asked or statement made

What information is the person trying to obtain or want you to know? Is it for their benefit or yours?

Tip #2 Eye contact/Body language

How are they looking at you when they ask you the question or telling you the information? Are they looking at you or giving you a side view?

Are they leaning towards you or away? Are they stiff or relaxed? This can show you how interested they are and that they want you to know what they are really asking you. Or what they want you to know behind their hidden messages.

Tip #3 Tone of voice

If you can’t see them and they can’t see you, then you can rely on the tone of voice. Is the voice a bit stiff, formal, relaxed, a fake smile behind the words, warmth, etc? This will tell you about the hidden messages behind the spoken words.

So the next time you are in a communication situation where you need to understand hidden messages or respond to hidden message, just remember RET and KISS.

R– Rational for question or statement

E– Eye contact

T– Tone of voice

Use KISS (Keep It Short and Simple) when responding to the hidden message!

If you are driven to communicate with confidence, have your messages, be heard and understood, and repair any communication breakdown in your personal communication relationship, then you should take a look at my ebook 5 Strategies For Effective Companion Communication! Grab your free copy by signing up below:

Get The eBook

Warm regards,

Grace CW Liu
Communication Navigator
W: GraceSOULutions.com

ABOUT GRACE

Grace CW Liu believes there is a solution to every problem including communication and conversation problems. Everyone can find the solution they seek by using the guidance of grace that is in you, with the grace of spiritual support, and Grace –me– as your Communication Navigator and support system.

My passion is to help sensitive, conflict-phobic, and introverted women have effective communication so they feel valued and heard in any conversation.

Through studying and observations, I’ve realized why communication breakdown occurs and the solutions to solving those problems. I’ve presented these solutions so that communicative partners can achieve effective communication!

GraceSOULutions COMMUNICATES… MONITOR Feelings

How comfortable are you with feelings and your ability to monitor feelings in your communication?

What are some ways you or the person you are communicating with monitor feelings in a conversation?

What makes it easy or difficult for you and the person you communicate with to monitoring feelings during a conversation?

Why do you monitor feelings (or not) in your conversations with others?

You might find, as you engage in conversation, that the mood either starts to change or did completely change. And you might be aware that the mood started to change subtly or dramatically during the conversation.

You might be aware of why the mood changed and sometimes you’re not.

What happened?!

First, you and said person were having a nice conversation. Everything was going well, and then one of you said something. Either you did or said something, or the other person did or said something that suddenly seemed to change the mood of the conversation.

Now, at this point you might be aware of it, and the other person might or might not be depending upon how well you or the other person are good at monitoring these feelings in the conversation.

Usually if one of you is good at this and realized the exact point at which the mood changed and the reason for it, then you might be able to repair the breakdown. You or the other person might apologize for what was said or provide further explanation for better understanding.

If either of you are not good at monitoring feelings, then one of you will carry on as if nothing has happened while the other one gets more annoyed, angry, sad or embarrassed depending upon the conversational topic or situation.

Sometimes conversations that start out so well suddenly lead to an explosion or someone walking out.

What can you do to monitor feelings so that you can have a nice productive conversation and not end up with an explosive scenario?

Here are four tips that you can use that may help you to monitor feelings in your communication:

Tip #1 M – Movement (body movement/posture)

What is the body movement or posture of the person you’re talking with? Is it relaxed, opened, tensed, limited body movement, or is a body part crossed when it was initially uncrossed?

What are the person’s mannerisms? Are they the same or have they changed?

Tip #2 O – Oh, the look (eye contact/gaze)

What is the person’s eye contact like? Are their eyes relaxed, glaring at you or looking away?

Tip #3 O – Oh, the face (facial expression)

What is the person’s face like? Is it relaxed, tensed, eyebrows furrowing, tense mouth with or without the smile?

Tip #4 D – Declaration (tone of voice)

What is the declaration or the tone of voice the person is using? Does the tone sound different from being light and happy to tense, angry, annoyed, and so on?

The next time you are in a communication situation and want to be able to monitor feelings to have nice productive conversation, just remember MOOD (this acronym helped me and I think it will help you as well).

Movement

Oh, the look

Oh, the face

Declaration

If you are driven to communicate with confidence, have your messages, be heard and understood, and repair any communication breakdown in your personal communication relationship, then you should take a look at my ebook 5 Strategies For Effective Companion Communication! Grab your free copy by signing up below:

Get The eBook

Warm regards,

Grace CW Liu
Communication Navigator
W: GraceSOULutions.com

ABOUT GRACE

Grace CW Liu believes there is a solution to every problem including communication and conversation problems. Everyone can find the solution they seek by using the guidance of grace that is in you, with the grace of spiritual support, and Grace –me– as your Communication Navigator and support system.

My passion is to help sensitive, conflict-phobic, and introverted women have effective communication so they feel valued and heard in any conversation.

Through studying and observations, I’ve realized why communication breakdown occurs and the solutions to solving those problems. I’ve presented these solutions so that communicative partners can achieve effective communication!

GraceSOULutions COMMUNICATES… Uncover Misunderstandings

Why do misunderstandings occur?

What are some ways that misunderstanding occurs in your conversations?

In what ways are you able to repair misunderstandings and gain a better understanding in your conversations?

Sometimes during your communication with other people, you are speaking, and a misunderstanding may occur.

You might have realized a misunderstanding has occurred either by the response given or someone outright stating the fact saying something like “You misunderstood what I said.”

What can you do make sure there is mutual understanding and then uncover any potential misunderstandings in your conversations?

Here are three tips that may help you to uncover misunderstandings in your communication:

Tip #1 Perception

How each person perceives the situation or how their story is different.

Tip #2 Accept and Learn from failure

Know that each person has had some experience with communication failure or misunderstandings and the best way to deal with it is to learn from it.

Tip #3 Listen

Listen to understand rather than to reply or respond quickly to what the other person has just stated.

The next time you are in a communication situation and want to be able uncover misunderstandings, just remember PALL (pronounced pal). PALL will help you to repair misunderstandings and to create more conversations filled with better understanding.

Perception

Accept & Learn

Listen

If you are driven to communicate with confidence, have your messages, be heard and understood, and repair any communication breakdown in your personal communication relationship, then you should take a look at my ebook 5 Strategies For Effective Companion Communication! Grab your free copy by signing up below:

Get The eBook

Warm regards,

Grace CW Liu
Communication Navigator
W: GraceSOULutions.com

ABOUT GRACE

Grace CW Liu believes there is a solution to every problem including communication and conversation problems. Everyone can find the solution they seek by using the guidance of grace that is in you, with the grace of spiritual support, and Grace –me– as your Communication Navigator and support system.

My passion is to help sensitive, conflict-phobic, and introverted women have effective communication so they feel valued and heard in any conversation.

Through studying and observations, I’ve realized why communication breakdown occurs and the solutions to solving those problems. I’ve presented these solutions so that communicative partners can achieve effective communication!

Facebook Linkedin Vimeo Youtube

GraceSOULutions. Copyright 2024.

All Rights Reserved.

Resources

Get Your Free
‘5 Strategies For Communication Breakthrough’
E-book!
Name(Required)

*Your information is not shared with third-parties and you can unsubscribe at any time. GraceSOULution’s goal is simply to offer you tips for better communication and repair communication barriers.