Silent Disclosure – Communication Without Intention
We are always communicating even when we think that we are not. Others instinctively pick up on our non-verbal messages which leads to disclosure of our emotions. Becoming more aware of just how powerful even subtle non-verbal communication is, can help us become more mindful of our behaviour.
The following activity is based on The Cafe Style methodology which uses latest insights from the field of neuroscience and accelerates learning and change.
This activity aims to provide insight into silent disclosure of emotions of others as well as yourself. It will help you notice the signature nuances (micro expressions) that can be seen due to various emotions.
Ready? Let’s begin!
Setup
A Cafe Style facilitator and an enthusiastic group of people are a great start. Each person in the group writes down three emotions on a piece of paper without letting anyone else see them. Happy, sad, anger, fear, excited, disgust are a few examples. There is one Ponderer and many Observers. Spin a pen to decide who is going to be The Ponderer first, the rest of the group are The Observers.
Activity
- The Ponderer passes the piece of paper to the facilitator before standing in front of the group.
- Taking the first emotion in their list, without verbalising anything, they close their eyes and think of a time when they felt that emotion. Eg. If the first emotion is fear, they think of a time when they felt fearful.
- The Observers’ role is to focus on the Ponderer’s posture, facial expressions, skin coloring etc very carefully.
- As a group, The Observers discuss and agree on which emotion they believe was being expressed by the Ponderer. They then proceed to call out the silently disclosed emotion.
- The facilitator decides whether the guess is close enough or not. E.g. really happy and excited may have similar characteristics.
- Swap places and repeat the activity.
We hope you have fun while learning through this activity!
