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Interpersonal Communication

Last month, I did the Exercise 2: Nonverbal Listening Patterns, and I learned a lot

about the way I listen and interact with certain people. The two people that I chose to

help me with this exercise was Amy, my best friend of 15 years and Sandy, my new

neighbor of only three months. Sandy asked me to come over to her house for a visit and

talk to her about ideas about remodeling her new home. With Amy, she

came over to my house on a Friday to discuss the “week in review”, as we call it, about

all of the reality shows that we watch during the week. It took me about two weeks to

complete this project, due to the fact that I had a lot of pondering to do about myself.

The first conversation was with Amy at my house on a Friday. When we started

discussing all of the shows that we watch during the week, Hells Kitchen, Big Brother,

Biggest Loser, for example, she did most of the talking like she usually does. So, I know

that my behaviors were being put to the test. I felt my nonverbal listening skills were

excellent. While sitting across the table from Amy, my posture was leaning forward,

elbows on the table, being very attentive. I always kept eye contact with her during the

conversation. My facial expressions were always on point. I was laughing and smiling

the whole time. And finally the gestures, I always use my hands to talk when I feel

comfortable, so they were also right on point.

A couple of days later, I went over to Sandy’s house to visit. I sat at her kitchen

table with a cup of coffee in front of me. She started talking about her ideas about

remodeling her house. She started with the kitchen idea first and ended with the master

bedroom idea. During this conversation, I was sitting back in the chair with my arms

crossed and kept moving in the chair. My eye contact was not the best. I noticed that I

was looking over her shoulder most of the time. I was...