Interpersonal Communication

When this class began I was very apprehensive about how I would do with it. It was not because of the communication process per se it was more about the fear that I would be unable to get interested in the information. This is because I have learned over the years that I have great difficulty completing things that I’m not interested in and as a Family Development Specialist I use and I use and teach communication skills every day. This automatically made me assume I would be unable to establish an interest in this this class but I quickly found that the assumption was incorrect. I have always been able to communicate effectively with most people unfortunately due to my tone and straightforward personality I have found that I find myself frequently explaining my personality and communication style.

After reading the material associated with this class I realized that there were several components of the communication process that I was unaware of and some that I had completely forgotten about. According to Burley-Allen “effective listening involves not only tuning in to others, but tuning in to ourselves. Listening carefully to what we say and how we say it can teach us an immense amount about ourselves” (1995). This is something that I have been unable to master in the communication process. I have found through the text and self-assessment tests that even though I believed listening to others was my biggest problem when actually self-awareness of my communications with others is really my biggest problem. My mood and emotions are easily seen via my facial expressions, body posture and frequent use of words such as yes, no and really with no effort to apply “nexting” to the conversation because I have lost interest and become distracted. The careers that I have chosen (nursing, CM and FDS) during my life have always required a high level of social interaction therefore I have realized that as with most things in life the ability to improve