Hello Loyal Laughers,
One of my most memorable early experiences with performing improv was playing a game where you had to get someone to guess what activity you were doing, and what you were doing it with – using ONLY pantomiming and gibberish.
No speaking of REAL WORDS? Oh, and it was a timed game, with multiple items to guess that wouldn’t normally be associated with the activity in real life, (ex: you might be sky-diving, but instead of a plane you are jumping out of a pineapple and instead of a parachute you might have a water-buffalo.) Plus – you have the added pressure of the audience watching with intensity to see if you can figure out what the heck is going on.
As you can imagine, this game got really wild, usually very loud, and limbs a-flailin’ was guaranteed.
It made it crystal clear to me that so much of what we communicate is expressed by HOW WE SAY IT, and not necessarily what we are saying. Even when we can “see” something in our minds, relaying that information in a way that invites someone else to understand what you see; your perspective, can be very challenging.
Understanding the emotions we use, along with the body language and physical gestures we use to express our messaging makes an enormous impact on how we can better communicate with those around us. And, to remind us to be patient and understanding if someone is trying to share something with us that we just don’t quite understand at first.
It requires us to heighten our self-awareness, to be more attentive to what is being expressed, and when it works, it’s amazing and deliciously unifying.
Get your workplace involved with this, and MANY other empowering improv tips here.
Creating Happier Healthier Human Connections Through Humor,
(Photo courtesy of Erin Blackwell Studio)