Ashley Metz
COM 200 Interpersonal Communication
Instructor Tremika Pinckney
December 10, 2012
Newlywed Communication
Being married, like being a parent, is one of the most rewarding relationships that you can have in life. However, while being married to your best friend can be pure bliss, learning how to communicate and keep lines of communication open throughout your relationship can be tough. Something about having the same last name takes your once perfect dating relationship to a sea of misunderstandings and disagreements. As a newlywed myself, I can relate on these difficult times that occur during the first few months and even the first few years of marriage. There are certain principles you can follow to have effective communication, listening skills that you can learn, have an understanding of non-verbal communication, and realize how self-concept, and self-disclosure, can all play a vital role in your communication within your marriage.
While communication has occurred since the dawn of time, becoming an effective communicator really does take some skill and understanding of how interpersonal communication works. Understanding these concepts and skills, will help tremendously in those not so blissful points of marriage. “To become a more effective communicator, scholars would most likely agree that five specific aspects of interpersonal communication are crucial areas of focus” (Sole, 2011). These 5 skills are listening skills, people skills, emotional intelligence, appropriate skill selection, and communicating ethically. I am sure looking at this list you can pick out which of these skills you think you possess over another, but the key to interpersonal communication is honing in all of these skills and using them together and at the appropriate times. Now let us break each of these skills down and concentrate on the key concepts of each skill. Listening, this is more than just sound waves bouncing through our ear canal,
References: Makodia, V. V. (2009). Role of Body Language in Communication. Jaipur, IND: Paradise Publishers. Sinha, D. S. (2009). Personal Growth and Training and Development. Lucknow, IND: Word-press. Sole, K. (2011). Making connections: Understanding interpersonal communication. San Diego, CA: Bridgepoint Education, Inc.