I Understand What You Are Not Saying

Since my childhood, I have always watched people around me. Maybe you do as well. If you sit long enough in the mall and watch all the people go by, you really can learn something about human behavior. From the man who rolls his eyes at the thought of going into a store he is less than likely to be excited about with his wife; to the child who sees a toy in a window of a store which they must have as the mother continues by the window. Their face turns from excitement to disappointment. Sometimes some of the funniest things in life can come from sheer observation of people. But what if you could really understand and interpret what you see?
I have been an unofficial observer in nonverbal behavior for years, but when I entered the law enforcement profession my eyes were opened to things you could learn about people from trained observation over the last 25 years. I found out later in ministry how it could help pastors to gain some insight into the people they minister.
You see, in ministry few pastors have been trained in nonverbal communication. Let’s face it; our college scheduled classes had enough! But the lack of understanding of the process means we are missing clues that could help people in their time of need.
In interviews prior to the writing of this book, I learned pastors do not understand nonverbal communication very well. And after a number of interactions with pastors during that time, I felt the need to help all of us understand, develop, and implement some practical techniques in the non-verbal communication process.
You see, we have to understand it is very hard at times to understand what is going inside a person merely by listening solely to their verbal communication alone. When signals are sent through the nonverbal communication process, we can come close to understanding and comprehending what is going on inside the person without ever hearing a word. When we understand the nonverbal process with people and have a good basic understanding of how to successfully interact with people, it can produce potentially life-changing connections.