My interaction with M on my last visit home. There was nothing unusual about coming home except this time I wanted to talk to my family about how I was feeling. I felt ready to open myself up to being vulnerable (Being vulnerable) This being a challenge because I am one who needs to express my feelings and the others in my family either don’t or tell me I am too sensitive.
In the last ten years I have lived away from my family. For 9 of those years I lived in small town about an hour away from my family. In the last year I moved even further away at a distance of 8 to 10 hours away I have made many trips to visit my family: holidays, birthday, family emergencies and even so on my own birthdays. In the year since moving much further …show more content…
I unintentionally took this approach to start my interaction with my mother. I felt unsure of how to begin our conversation and in the mean time I was sending out non-verbal cues about my emotions. This in turn communicated that something was bothering me. I felt the emotion and was aware of how I felt, but did not realize just what cues and how many I was giving. Adler et al (2016) explains how nonverbal communication expressed through the face, eyes, body movement, touch, distance, territoriality, physical appearance and clothing are ways in which we send non-verbal messages. In the initial stages of my interaction I used my non-verbal communication as a way of avoiding having a verbal conversation. When my mother asked what was bothering me I had not realized that I was clearly and outwardly communicating that something was on my mind that needed a verbal discussion. I would agree that this example of my use of non-verbal communication was both successful and non-successful. Successful in which my mother picked my cues and our interaction was initiated. However, not successful for me to use to express the feelings I had about my family. I was using ambiguous language that did not clearly express my feelings. This was a good example where I was not self-monitoring my own behavior. I failed to see that my non-verbal communication was hindering my ability to be a good communicator. Adler et al (2016) describe how using the skill of self-monitoring enables the individual to reflect their own behavior thus giving them the opportunity to change their behavior and creating more effective
In the last ten years I have lived away from my family. For 9 of those years I lived in small town about an hour away from my family. In the last year I moved even further away at a distance of 8 to 10 hours away I have made many trips to visit my family: holidays, birthday, family emergencies and even so on my own birthdays. In the year since moving much further …show more content…
I unintentionally took this approach to start my interaction with my mother. I felt unsure of how to begin our conversation and in the mean time I was sending out non-verbal cues about my emotions. This in turn communicated that something was bothering me. I felt the emotion and was aware of how I felt, but did not realize just what cues and how many I was giving. Adler et al (2016) explains how nonverbal communication expressed through the face, eyes, body movement, touch, distance, territoriality, physical appearance and clothing are ways in which we send non-verbal messages. In the initial stages of my interaction I used my non-verbal communication as a way of avoiding having a verbal conversation. When my mother asked what was bothering me I had not realized that I was clearly and outwardly communicating that something was on my mind that needed a verbal discussion. I would agree that this example of my use of non-verbal communication was both successful and non-successful. Successful in which my mother picked my cues and our interaction was initiated. However, not successful for me to use to express the feelings I had about my family. I was using ambiguous language that did not clearly express my feelings. This was a good example where I was not self-monitoring my own behavior. I failed to see that my non-verbal communication was hindering my ability to be a good communicator. Adler et al (2016) describe how using the skill of self-monitoring enables the individual to reflect their own behavior thus giving them the opportunity to change their behavior and creating more effective