Is your mind warmed up and ready for some new ideas? Try this one: Think about how much you communicate without words. Imagine a conversation. You use words to communicate, but what else do you use? How does your facial expression show what you mean? Your gestures? Your posture? How close you stand to someone? How about the way you say your words: your intonation, volume? According to A. Barbour's Louder Than Words: Nonverbal Communication, verbal communication comprises only a small part of how we relate to each other. Here's how Barbour breaks down communication:

» 7 % verbal (words)

» 38% vocal (volume, intonation, rhythm, etc.)

» 55% body language (facial expression, posture, gesture, etc.)

(For more information about mankind's nonverbals, read Edward Hall's classic The Silent Language, Anchor Books, 1973.)