Personal Narrative: My Nonverbal Communication

Defining Communication What is communication? According to the Merriam-Webster (n.d.) dictionary it is “information transmitted or conveyed.” Ten weeks ago I would have looked at this definition and believed that it was fairly accurate. However, since then I have learned that communication is so much more complicated than this definition reveals. There are different branches and modes of communication and an infinite number of factors that affect it. It may be transmitting information, but that definition does not even scratch the surface of the myriad of ways communication comes into play as part of our lives. Even if we do not realize it, everything we do communicates something to the people around us. As students, we must learn to …show more content…
Personally, I started this course not entirely certain what to expect from a communications class, but knowing that I believe communication is one of the most important skills anyone can possess. Through learning about communications I have become more aware of my nonverbal cues, I have expanded my knowledge of how others communicate, and I have learned to communicate my ideas in multiple ways
My Nonverbal Communication In the second week of this course I set the goal of becoming more conscious of what my body language conveyed to people, and in a broader sense, simply the way I communicate nonverbally. Particularly after we covered nonverbal communication in week six, I was able to think critically about the nonverbal cues I send and how I could improve them. The video assigned that week and the …show more content…
Every time we started a new module, I learned a little more about how messages can be interpreted differently based on how the sender presents them and how the receiver interprets them. As we progressed through the course it continued to be reinforced that everybody has a different communication style and it is of the utmost importance to recognize this in order to have effective communication. When we completed the module about listening, I realized that in order to become a better communicator, I needed to listen to how people were conveying messages and use that to understand their communication style. With this goal, I redoubled my efforts to listen to people and understand how they were trying to communicate. Consequently, I have become more aware of how I listen to people and am able to use this to communicate with them more effectively. For example, I have learned through listening to my friend Johnathan that he communicates very passively. He often makes statements in the form of questions in order to make sure that he is doing something right or that it is what the people around him want. I kept this in mind while I taught him how to make a pumpkin pie the other day and by asking him questions and leading him through the steps in a gentle way, I was able help him finish the entire process with confidence. This is just