Communication and Conflict:
Two topics of this weeks discussions. We started off with communication which is something that I feel is always talked about when looking at relationships. But that is okay because there is always new things to learn.
words= 14%
tone= 35%
nonverbal=51%
these were the numbers that we used when looking at how we communicate. Even though there are many different studies that quote all sorts of percentages. But all of them have nonverbal as being the majority. Which is something that I find cool. How much we say when we are not saying anything.
Which brings me to something else that we talked about. Which is that you are always communicating. Even if you walk away or give people the silent treatment then you are still communicating some message. Which means you should always be aware of the messages you are sending.

We stated out our conversation of conflict by talking about power and what power actually is. The definition that we came up with was the ability to influence they way someone thinks feels, or behaves. And there are different types of power.
One of the things the book talked about was styles of conflict. When didn't go over this in class but I found it interesting. These are competition, avoidance, accommodation, compromise, and collaboration. I thought about what style I use. and I think it is one of two depending on the situation. I'm either accommodation, where I neglect what I want in order for the other person to have what they want. Which isn't always a good thing. But I realized that I am also collaboration. This is when you are very concerned about your interests but also the other's interests. I can think of situations where I wasn't going to give in, but at the same time I didn't want the other person to give in to me, because I cared about their opinions.

It is good to be aware of these things because once you realize how you operate you have a better ability to know what is going on. You can build your relationship, and work on establishing healthy boundaries.