Best Friends Always Stick Together

Sofia, a friend's daughter gave me the idea for this blog. After this bright five year old drafted the thought, "Best Friends Always Stick Together" I realized, at what age do we realize friendship is more than just a need for functional play, but a need for companionship, a need of basic functioning, and necessary for an efficient support system? If a five year old can grasp the concept that building social relations is an important function in life, than adults should also be able to comprehend the necessity of active and effective communication skills.

Here is a five minute lesson on communication skills, for more information on communication therapy in Santa Barbara, visit my website at http://www.therapeuticbenefits.com/ or call for a free phone consultation at 805.234.7409.

How do we communicate?
An amazing 90% of communication is nonverbal. This means that the actual words that you use only accounts for 10% of what is communicated in your relationships. This is a remarkable stat that I often spout out and the response is always the same, "How is this true?" Think about it. Eye contact, inflection, tone, body movements, posture, etc. etc. etc.

What can get in the way of effective communication?
Assumptions, we all know assumptions make an ass out of you and me.
Patterns of behavior, some patterns benefit us, but many are detrimental.
Needing to be right, we all know someone who fits this discription.
Avoiding conflict, people get confused by this one, but it's true!

More on conflict resolution:
One of the purposes of conflict is to arrive at a resolution, so if you avoid conflict, the problem will only get worse. The earlier you can identify that there is a problem and intervene, the better it will be. Additional conflict resolution techniques include:
Agreement (find something, anything you agree with with the opposing argument)
Bridge Building
Using "I" rather than "You" Statements

These are just a few tips and ideas for effective communication, if you would like more information on conflict resolution, communication techniques or relationship issues, please visit http://www.therapeuticbenefits.com/ for resources, low cost therapy in Santa Barbara, and to schedule a free phone consultation.

Thank you Sofia, for your great idea!