Communication Strategies Wk 4

Our Friday Girl Group focused on the emotions behind the words or actions. How can we say one thing, but mean another? How do our feelings influence the way we communicate with others? We read the poem, “I Confess” by Alison Luterman. The poet admits to following an older woman in the grocery store who “placed yogurt and avocados in her basket,/beaming peace like the North Star.” She wants to ask the woman many deep questions; wants to tell her that she seems to possess “some knowledge that makes the earth turn and burn on its axis –"

But the poet is overwhelmed by the rules of society and the awkwardness of the situation and, instead, says only, “I love your hair.”

We love the poem for the way it reveals the constant internal conversation that informs our external actions. In Friday’s group, we encouraged the girls to let their internal voices speak and also to imagine the internal monologue of others. We talked about the ways we might ask questions to more deeply understand our family and friends.

The girls were especially interested in talking about friendship challenges. It was agreed that sometimes our friends do or say things that have nothing to do with us, but more to do with their own thoughts, worries and experience. Many of the girls thought that writing notes to a friend was a good way to say exactly what you wanted to say without fear of interruption.

“Notes are powerful,” one girl said.

#girlgroup #girlsrule #letstalk