Years ago I was at a boring work team-bonding week. Well, most of it
was boring apart from a bit I always remember about levels of communication.
Did you know that non-verbal communication is often considered
the highest level between humans.
A quick raise of the eyebrow, a change of expression and even micro-expressions
are all cues. We are all so much more complex and evolved than even we realise
and these things are ingrained through evolution.
Only 7% of what we convey or say is done with words. The other 93% is
tone and body language (insane isn’t it).
This included non-verbal cues between two people that anybody else in the
room would be unlikely to get.
On face value this cartoon strip just looks like postcard humour, but it’s
SO MUCH MORE than that…
Someone looking at this quickly would just see an attractive blonde walking
past a couple on the beach and a bloke half-ogling her, but it’s REALLY a sweet little vignette
about trust and shared humour. Nobody else would understand them in the way those
two do at a personal level… and that is a beautiful thing.
What’s happening
-
She gently signals that a striking woman is about to pass.
-
He looks, briefly, without leering or moving.
-
The passer-by keeps walking, oblivious.
-
In the last panel the couple exchange a wry smile. It is a micro-ritual
they seem to know well.
I remember years ago seeing someone admiring herself in the reflection on the
large glass panel in a door. I turned to the person I was with and we both looked
at each other, then laughed, knowing what we were both thinking about it as we
spotted it at the same time.
It’s even BETTER when you know the other person ‘gets it’ and you don’t even
have to say anything.
That’s my thought of the day. Whatever you’re doing, enjoy the rest of yours
and I’ll see ya in the next one (no doubt, no diggety).
Let’s play this one out with, “Peaches” by The Stranglers…