Reflection Paper

Cindy I. Incensario
Making a Difference
July 29, 2013

From the moment we wake up in the morning to the moment we go to bed, we have to communicate. We communicate with our life partners, family, neighbors, and friends and also with complete strangers we come across in our daily life. People like communicating with others who communicate well which improves the way others see them. Talking with persons who have different statuses in life makes an individual seen to be kind, approachable, and other positive traits. On the other hand, an individual looks aloof and hostile whenever he minimizes the conversation with people around him. I knew someone who was an introvert before. He does not like to mingle with others. It seemed like the presence of other people drains his energy. Whenever somebody approaches him, he simply smiles then walks away. I was alarmed of his behavior because he was acting really weird. Since I’m an outgoing person, I talked to him. Even though he walked away from me, I still kept on following him. Suddenly, he stopped and talked to me. He then explained his side why he was acting really strange towards others. After his sharing moment, we became friends. Communication helps an individual to succeed professionally, especially if he is into business. It is very important to say the right things at the right time and at the right place when dealing with business partners, customers, stakeholders, and media. Any miscommunication or ambiguity can pour pails of cold water on one’s hard work and ruin his chances of surviving today’s competitive business environment. Bill Gates, Lilian Bettencourt, and Steffan Persson are one of the successful and richest business magnates in the world. One of the biggest reasons behind their success is doing communication effectively. We can also exercise our constitutionally guaranteed freedom of speech by means of communication. It helps us to express or convey our messages, thoughts, feelings, imaginations and ideas. You can have brilliant ideas, but if you can’t get them across, your ideas won’t get you anywhere (Lee Laloca, 2009). Knowing the deeper meaning of that quote inspired and motivated me to speak what I think is right and I can relate that to my situation before. I don’t participate that much on my classes because I had a feeling that my answers were all incorrect. I always end up regretting because the thought of my teacher’s explanations or answers were almost same with what I was thinking of.
Communication is interactive. The sender transmits the message to the receiver, and the receiver responds by giving feedbacks. My family is the best example for this. Our family observes communication vitally. We have an interactive communication wherein my brother and I share something to our parents and they will respond by giving advices.
Environment can also affect one’s communicating relationship with others, and I myself can attest to that. I’m a newbie in the dormitory. I have to adapt with my fellows’ attitudes, especially my roommates since we will be together for almost 24/7. I don’t know how to approach them because we might have different beliefs. But now, I’m having a bunch of friends here. Thanks to the interpersonal and intercultural communication.
With the help of the lessons we have discussed in our class, I came to realize more the importance of communication in my life. And connecting my current situation with the topics that we discussed, it touches several topics. One of the values of communication is it teaches important life skills. It helped me coming up with good decisions and innovative ideas. It has also contributed a lot to me whenever I do public speaking. I can already organize my thoughts well and I gained self-esteem. It also increased my literacy about media because it provides an opportunity for integrating all subject areas and creating a common vocabulary that applies across all disciplines.
I also learned that proper communication must always be learned and appreciated. Conceptualizing the message is the goal of communication. Understanding is the main point of the different ways that theories want to emphasize. I shall stress that we must make sure that we effectively delivered the message. Misunderstanding is inevitable if the way we deliver the message is ambiguous.
The importance of communication in our lives impels us to become more effective communicators. Thus, it is very important to consider communication as a tool in order to establish good relationship towards others.