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The importance of good interpersonal communication skills
Improve interpersonal skills
The importance of good interpersonal communication skills
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I don’t know where I would be without my best friend. The person who keeps me sane when my family is driving me crazy, or the person who will stay up with me all night to support me when I have a last minute paper due in a class; I don’t know where I would be without that support. I found this support in my best friend, my sister from another father, Regina. Regina is an eccentric, overbearing, lover of all things natural type of girl. She lives life to the fullest and never backs down from a challenge. She is funny, full of whit and sharper than a tack fresh out of the box. Although it hasn’t always been a smooth road for us we still remain friends to this day.
Regina and I were neighbors for several years and in that time our friendship strengthened and didn’t seem like anything could break it. It was in our getting older and need for exploration that slowly initiated the fissure in our friendship. We began not seeing eye-to-eye on subjects that we used to agree on when we first met. I would find myself looking for companionship in other friends instead of relying on her for support; and that was wearing thin. It was in our return home that we really started to waiver and greatly changed our relationship to something that I could not recognize.
When I began to comprehend the faults within our relationship, I knew it was time to act. Focusing on the Struggle Spectrum by the National Communication Association, I noticed that we were repeatedly climbing the struggle ladder and falling off the edge only to repeat it again. My younger, less educated version of myself would never have seen the problems but now, after years of college and my Interpersonal Communications class, I could see what needed to be done. I b...
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...has changed me for the better and I now know that Regina is ready to complete this journey with me.
“The friends that listen to us are the ones we move toward, and we want to sit in their radius” (Karl Meninger). I am greatly pleased with the outcome of this challenge and look forward to what comes next. The profound meaning of my friendship with Regina and what we’ve been through over the past 11 years constantly reminds me that of all the moments we’ve shared, arguments we’ve had, and time spent apart. I appreciate that nothing—absolutely nothing is more uplifting and inspiring than enduring the challenges of life with someone who knows you like the back of your hand.
“It is by chance that we met, by choice that we became friends, Henri Nouwen.
Works Cited
Beebe S., Beebe S., Redmond M. (2011, 2008, 2005) Allyn & Bacon by Pearson Education, Inc.
While all relationships can be difficult, romantic relationships seem to be some of the most complicated types. Sometimes two people can care for one another so much, yet they cannot seem to communicate effectively. When a lack of communication occurs between two people for a long period of time, it most likely will lead to a huge confrontation and possibly a complete dissolve of the relationship. The Break-Up is a movie that shows how important interpersonal communication is in relationships. The movie features Brooke and Gary, a couple which has been together for several years. Although they seem to be arguing about something trivial like lemons, there are much bigger issues that begin to surface. Throughout this paper I will show how
Rebecca Stead does a beautiful job capturing every facet of friendships—both the good (where it’s strong and supportive) and the bad (where it’s based on cattiness and
While there is no such thing as a happily ever after, there is a cycle of stages that turned my relationship into a stronger connection. Our path taught us how to improve through the relationship stages reaching new levels of involvement and intimacy through difficult times. Others might see the dips of the roller coaster as reason to terminate rather than repair what they once had. True growth requires us to use the low points as a way to better appreciate the high points of our new reality. Continuing our relationship still today, we learn to cooperate through listening and receiving before responding in a harsh tone. Knapp’s cycle continues on a course headed towards repair or termination and John and I now work through our issues in a calm and rational way because learned through each difficult time.
Viorst, Judith. Necessary Losses: The Lovers, Illusions, Dependencies and Impossible Expectations That All of Us Have to Give Up in Order to Grow. N.p.: n.p., n.d. 7-9. All Kinds of Friends. Print.
Friendship expectations play a huge role in “establishing, maintaining, and terminating friendships” thus playing a factor of ones’ interpretations and through their affiliations (West & Turner, 2016). A companionship is dependent on
In every society nonverbal communication is one of the most powerful tools that a person can use to interpret the message that is being delivered. Even though verbal communication is fairly straightforward, nonverbal communication allows others to sense the true emotions of the person that is expressing them. For example even though a person may say that they are not irritated, their usage of voice may display otherwise. Nonverbal communication not only reveals hidden messages, but it also complements, substitutes, and exaggerates verbal communication.
I sat with Regina and asked her several questions that I thought were significant in the process of this interview assignment. Regina demeanor was that of a juvenile delinquent being question about a crime. I new this was not a way to get close to her nor establish a bond of trust that would be necessary for her to open up to me. So I decided to play a game that required her trust, this proved to be a icebreaker as she started to open up slowly as I started the questions.
Steven McCornack, the author of “Reflect & Relate” describes friendship as “a voluntary interpersonal relationship characterized by intimacy and liking.” (McCornack, 355). As Cady begun high school, she quickly made real friends with Janis and Damian. The friendship wasn’t necessarily driven by shared interest at first because Cady was new girl to the school, who loved math and shy, while Janis and Damian are outspoken, love art, and don’t quite fit. But, they develop a shared interest when they are trying to take Regina George down, they meet every day after to create plans, Cady shares everything that Regina does or say and they find it funny. This produces an agentic friendship and communal friendship between Cady, Janis and Damian because they help each other achieve a common goal, such as ruining Regina’s life, but they are also invested on spending time with each other, doing activities like watching movies, eating lunch together and they provide emotional support when needed. Janis and Damian also accept Cady has she is, they didn’t try to change her, and were very hurt when Cady blew them off to throw a house party, which she didn’t even invite them too. A Cross-Oriented friendship is displayed between Janis and Damian because Damian is gay and Janis is a woman. It doesn’t damage their relationship because Janis accepts and supports Damian, she evens makes little remarks that Damian isn’t offended by
When I was a young girl in elementary school I developed a friendship with a girl that lived a block from me. We began visiting each other’s homes every day. Having sleep overs, riding the bus together and even sitting with each other during lunch. We developed a friendship that couldn’t be broken. It didn’t matter that I was African American and she was Caucasian her whole family made me feel like I was one of their own. While I didn’t know much about anything and didn’t really know what family meant I learn it from her family. She taught me how to line dance and I learn to love his strange music that was peaceful and full of love called country music. It had a way of making your feel happy when you were down. We formed a bond and became best friends she was the only friend I had and I remember when her other friends came to visit I grew kind of jealous because I thought they would take her away from me and I would be all alone again so I became distant. She was such a great friend and for somehow she knew what was bothering me without me even having to say anything so she told me that it shouldn’t worry we will always be friends and it’s okay to have more than one best friend. She was so wise for her age I use to think to myself. As I grew older my mother and siblings and I moved out of town and I lost connection with her but with the increased technology like Facebook we have reconnected. I believe attraction played a major part on us becoming friends. Our friendship started on the school bus on the ride home from school. A couple of bullies started picking on her because of her freckles and fi...
Petersen, J. C. (2007). Why don’t we listen better? Communicating & connecting in relationships (1st ed.). Portland, OR: Petersen.
I am hoping for a win-win outcome where both of us gain our friendship back (O’Hair, Wiemann 184). We might have to make more time for each other and compromise other events such a volunteering, sports and other things but, this compromise may make us both happier. We might have to work a lot to see each other, but I hope it will be well worth it.
Communication is important in relationships as it allows us to share our interest, concerns, support each other; organize our lives and make decisions; and it allows us to work together. Effective communication is based on the way we talk and listen, how we respond and our body language. We can all learn how to improve the way we communicate.
In eighth grade, I had some troubles with one of my good friends from my group. I would call her up after school just to cry out all of my emotions, just to hear her soothing and concerning voice to calm me down. She would tell me that I’m capable of finding new friends and to forget about the old ones, but I didn’t know if I could do either of those things. She would reassure me of doing both and then tell me a funny story from when she had troubles with her friends. The story would lead into the core purpose of staying strong and working your way through anything you set your mind to. Eventually, things did work out between my friend and I, but I know that during that whole process, I could hear Grammy in the back of my head reminding me of her
When I was in the sixth grade, an event happened where I saw who the person I called my best friend really was for the first time. We hope when the people we trust show their true colors those colors are of beautiful vibrancy. Faith and I were best friends since we first met in park league softball when I was in the second grade. Faith and I were constantly getting in trouble for talking during class. She was easy to talk to and there was never a dull moment, but perhaps the main reason I was friends with Faith was because I thought it was better to be friends with Faith then not because then you were her enemy. I never thought Faith would attempt to get me into serious trouble at school. This event that took place during my sixth grade year
Regina Maywack lived just down the road from me. Before 5th grade I never knew who she was. As the year progressed we got closer and closer. Regina was extremely talented. She was, in my mind, a genius; she loved school and always did well. She was also blessed with athletic ability. Something I respected since most other kids we knew weren't involved in sports. No matter what day it was I always went to school knowing that Regina would be there with a smile on her face. It seemed as though she didn't have a care in the world. There were days I would show up mad at something my parents had done, or at something that hadn't gone my way, and she would just look at me with those honest eyes and tell me to be thankful for the good things.