Letter of Advice Free Essays

string(57) " stumble across some interpersonal communication issues\." Letter of advice I understand that you two are newly engaged, and were made aware that I was taking a course in Interpersonal Communication; additionally, as a couple you are seeking suggestions and advice regarding your relationship. I will share knowledge from the course material, and from my life experiences both good and bad. In this letter I will discuss strategies for empathic listening, recognizing the power of words, how nonverbal expressions affect relationships, and how to create a positive communication climate. We will write a custom essay sample on Letter of Advice or any similar topic only for you Order Now Let me assure you that this letter will certainly serve as a footprint for ways to better your relationship. I am extremely honored to share some dynamics of interpersonal relationships with you, Tim and Sara. First I would like to qualify myself by stating that with the help of God, my wife and I celebrated 31 years of marriage on April 19, 2011; thus, I know a little bit about how to maintain a long-lasting loving healthy relationship. Furthermore, the day is your lucky day for the reason that I will share my knowledge with both of you today and set you on a path toward a long-lasting, loving, and healthy relationship. First I want to share a little bit of information about myself. I married my high school sweetheart in 1980, and we are still together after 31 years. I am the father of three wonderful children and from them I have three grandchildren. My two granddaughters are the most beautiful girls in the world with the exception of my wife, and I believe that is enough about me. All right let me began with a brief introduction of what my thoughts are regarding Interpersonal Communication; additionally, I will reference different material throughout this letter. The human race is a highly interactive being who desire and crave relationships with others of its kind (Sole,†¦ Although interpersonal communication can be the building block to successful communications between you and your loved one, it could also effect how you and your loved one interact with each other by not being a good listener and speaker. Hello my name is and I will be providing you with a little bit of advice in order to keep and maintain a strong healthy relationship. I will cover various subjects such as self-disclosure in relationships, how to be an empathic listener, the appropriate levels of self-disclosure, also strategies for managing interpersonal conflicts and so fourth. Keep in mind I will not be including anything from my own private life; I will be providing you just guidelines. Self-Concept is developed and maintained by the things we as humans are prone to watch and follow, self-concept is also perceived by our peers, by our parents, sisters, brothers, neighbors and so forth. Purkey (1988) states that your self-concept is learned; it is organized, it is dynamic, and it is changeable, you can construct this sense of self through communication with yourself and with others by what you tell yourself and what others tell you about yourself. Because I am giving you the tools to maintain your relationship, your self-concept of one another will only get worst if you both are unwilling to change and maintain who you are. While it would be much simple to completely to ignore each other, the fact will remain, you both must be civilized when communicating. It’s only a reminder that you are not only doing it for yourselves, but you are learning to be better civilized people as well. Moving on, I would like to talk to you about strategies for developing active, critical and empathic listening. Anybody could be a good listener, but the difference is while doing so one must be able to become empathic, understand what the other person is talking about. Although you may have a really great†¦ Dear Johnny and Elizabeth, I am greatly honored that you are seeking my advice on communication in your relationship and congratulations upon your new engagement. As you understand I am currently taking a class on Interpersonal Communication and I will share with you what I have learned in throughout the course of the class and also some personal experiences both good and bad. There are many components that make up good communication, many assume it comes naturally. The fact that we have been communicating all of our lives does not mean that we do it well. (Sole, 2011, sec. 1. 1) Communication is extremely complex, it requires many skills and you must be willing to not only practice these skills, but also continue learning to improve upon these. There can be many issues while learning to communicate effectively. In order to enjoy a harmonious and generally pleasant relationship one must strengthen bonds by listening effectively which helps solve communication problems constructively. Sole, 2011) In order to help you on your quest for knowledge, I will go over a few important things I think you should know about interpersonal communication. This advice I believe should help you improve upon your communication skills which is required when you want a healthy strong relationship. When it comes to a healthy relationship, effective communication is the cornerst one on which you build upon. If you cannot communicate properly or effectively, it will have effects in your personal life. In order to have a successful healthy relationship, effective communication is the most important skill that one can learn. First I would like to share a little bit of information about myself. I have been married for almost 13 years to my wonderful husband. We started dating in high school, which makes him my high school sweetheart. I do know a little bit about on how to maintain a long-lasting loving healthy relationship. I am the mother of a loving son who has been a†¦ Letter of Advice Dear Sara and Tim, I have put together a small guideline for you to use in case you happen to stumble across some interpersonal communication issues. You read "Letter of Advice" in category "Essay examples" I wish you the best with your upcoming engagement. Thank you for asking for my advice so that I can put some of my schoolwork into use. I always heard that if you do not use it then you lose it. I have listed, explained in detail, and even thrown in a few examples from my own personal experiences. I hope this guideline contributes to helping you effectively use interpersonal communication in your relationship. I will try to help you recognize, develop, evaluate, access, and identify as a couple. You cannot not communicate, relationships do not grow strong without communication. The key to a successful marriage is honesty, communication, and knowing the power of your words. The process by which self-concept is developed and maintained. Has anyone ever told you that first, you must be happy with yourself before you can be happy with someone else? You need to do an evaluation of yourself before you get married. Self-Concept is a list of traits and characteristics you use to describe yourself. â€Å"Today most researchers believe that who you think you are is a complex mix of how you see yourself; how others see you; what parents, teachers, and peers have told you about yourself; and what your society or culture tells you that you are or should be. Your self-concept is learned; it is organized, it is dynamic, and it is changeable† (Purkey, 1988). The major part of the way you construct your self-concept is by choosing to accept or reject what other people tell you about yourself but you should always be open minded to others opinions of you. Whether you agree or disagree. Although keep in mind that other peoples opinions, are not always correct and you should not always agree with what they think of you. There†¦ Dear Reggie and Jamie, Thank you very much for asking for my advice on your personal relationship as you enter your realm of matrimony. As you know, I am taking interpersonal communication as one of my classes, and as a close friend to both of you, I would love to share some of the information I have learned for the journey you both have planned ahead. I know that you are newly engaged, and this information will definitely prove to be of use in your relationship. My advice to you for a successful relationship is to always maintain effective interpersonal communication. We have all heard â€Å"communication is the key in marriage,† and this proves to be true in many different concepts. Having effective communication is a key to building a stronger and better relationship, therefore this is my letter of advice to both of you showing how this effective communication can help improve the interpersonal communication in your relationship. To begin in any relationship, it is very important to understand the basic principles and misconceptions that take place in communications. This is essential to be sure that we are communicating and not just talking. In an online book â€Å"Making Connections: Understanding Relationships†, Kathy Sole explains the role of many terms related to effective communication. In communication there is always a sender, a receiver and the message itself. She further emphasizes that listening is a very important part of communicating (Sole, 2011). As a matter of fact, listening is the largest part of any communication and it can be verbal or in reading form. Listening and providing feedback are the ways we can determine that we understand what is actually being sent. While it is very easy to talk, it is not as easy to actually communicate in a way in which we can discover things about the person with whom†¦ Hello Aaron Kelly, I understand that you two are newly engaged and planning a fall 2012 wedding. I am currently taking a college course in interpersonal communication and I want to share with you knowledge from the course material, and from my life experiences; both good and bad. In this letter I will discuss strategies for empathic listening, recognizing the power of words, how nonverbal expressions affect relationships, and how to create a positive communication climate. I am completely confident that this letter will serve as a guide for ways to better your relationship. I am extremely honored to share some dynamics of interpersonal relationships with the both of you. I want you both to know that I am not a relationship expert, but I have been in the same relationship with my husband for the past seventeen years. My hope is that you two can work towards a long-lasting, loving, and healthy relationship. First I want to share a little bit of information about myself. I married my high school sweetheart in 2005. We have been together for seventeen years, married for six. I am the mother of three wonderful children, ranging in age from fourteen to ten weeks old. It is important to know that marriage is not easy, and it is even more challenging when you have children; but with good communication skills, marriage and family can be the most rewarding endeavor you ever embark upon. Let me begin with a brief introduction of what my thoughts are regarding interpersonal communication; additionally, I will reference different material throughout this letter. The human race is a highly interactive being that desires and craves relationships with others of its kind (Sole, 2011). I believe life is the most precious gift in the world; moreover, empathy is the power that sustains that gift of life. In other words, when people in intimate relationships concern themselves with the problems and issues of others with compassion, and sympathy, life continues to†¦ ntroduction Interpersonal communication is defined by how close people are physically to one another and how involved they are with the other person. Interpersonal communication also plays a role in many couples’ lives. As we learn how to communicate with our partners or spouses we also learn how to give feedback to one another and how to listen better for a happier relationship. Indeed, while, interpersonal communication is not the main reason why people get along, interpersonal communication is an important factor among relationships and learning new skills for communication, as well as learning how to deal with barriers are the main keys for a better relationship. Dear Miguel and Terri, the principles of effective interpersonal communication focus in the way we interact with others. As we learn and apply these principles we learn to interact with other people like coworkers, friends, and family members. These principles can help us to communicate better on a daily basis whether at meetings, public places, or even at family gatherings. So what should we do to improve our interpersonal communication? Well, per my experience I must say we should first learn to communicate verbal or nonverbal according to our receptor during the communication. Second we must learn how to be good listeners; the skill of listening is a very important principle of interpersonal communication. Many times we think we are listening to the other person later to find out we were not, because other things were interrupting our attention. Once we learn how to communicate and listening during our communication then we can apply this principles in our own relationship with our spouses. Couples today do not communicate their feelings or even their dreams in life with their significant other, there is a broken communication that must be fixed for the marriage to be maintained and remain together. When couples†¦ Dear Susie and Michael, Personal and Interpersonal communication conflicts can be solved with strategic communications, and self-concept maintenance and development while understanding interpersonal impact of gender and culture. Communication is very important in a relationship without it your relationship will crumble and fall. Learning to communicate effectively is very important in any type of relationship. Whether it is a personal, business or family matter that needs attention when the individual takes the time to listen to what is being said and responds in the appropriate ways of communication When you fail to listen you are not hearing what your partner is saying, you think you hear it but can be totally opposite of what was said. This is one of many reasons why people seek advice from others instead of their  spouse. I will take what I have learned in this class and use it to the best of my ability to help you as much as I can. In this letter I will explain to you the principles and misconceptions in interpersonal communication, the process by which self-concept is developed and maintained, ways for people to improve their personal communications and communication competencies, strategies’ for managing interpersonal conflict, and understanding the impact of gender and culture on interpersonal communication. I want to talk bout the principles of effective communication and give you some positive tips to help you and your partner become better communicators. I believe that when you treat each other with respect will prove beneficial because it lets your partner know that you can focus all your energy on them and not focusing your energy on other people. And ways that you can spend all of your energy an d attention on your partner is very simple just enjoy each other’s company and making yourself present for loved ones instead of being distracted by your problems with others will definitely let your partner know that you are more†¦ Letter of Advice When it comes to marriage everyone has advice whether it how to cook, what to wear to bed, how to be romantic or just what it takes to make your marriage last. In all relationships communication is the key. Talking, verbal or non-verbal communication makes a difference. There are a lot of misconceptions in marriages and relationships. The words we use can affect our relationships, because there are times we say things out of anger or hurt feelings. In this letter I will share some advice to my friends who just got engaged and are planning their wedding. Recognize how words have the power to create and affect attitudes, behavior, and perception. Dear Jim and Sue be careful of the words that you say to one another whether it is general conversation, passion or out of anger. Words can make you feel good and they all so can make you feel bad. The words you chose can cause self-esteem issues distrust or hurt to the core. Harsh words can create bad attitudes in a relationship, create unpleasant behavior and the wrong words create perception that you are mean and uncaring. Advice Letter Identify the barriers to effective interpersonal interactions The barriers of effective interpersonal interaction will keep the communication lines open. The barriers can be constructive or they can be insulting. Don’t always be on the defensive because it will close the line of communication. When there is a misunderstanding there is a breakdown in communication. Build trust with one another trust is something that is earned, the second thing is open and bold when you communicate and have respect and try to get past what the break downs in communication are. Communication is the key and how well you communicate will cause a good and lasting marriage. Dear Trent and Tara, I would like to say congratulations on your engagement. I am honored you would like advice from me on interpersonal communication in your relationship. The knowledge that I have obtained during the interpersonal communication class will allow me to give you helpful information on the communication processes. Communication is the most important part of a marriage and any relationship. The areas that I will address will be effective communication, the barriers, self-concept development and maintenance, strategies for listening, and strategies for interpersonal conflict. Explain the Principles and Misconceptions in Effective Interpersonal Communications. Effective interpersonal communications is a very important part of marriage. In her book, Making Connections: Understanding Interpersonal Communications Sole (2011) said â€Å"Interpersonal communication is a lifelong study that requires ongoing practice for everyone (Sole, K. 2011, sec. 2. 5)†. In this section I will explain to you the principles and misconceptions in interpersonal communications. The principles of interpersonal communications are a share between the sender and the receiver. Barnlund’s (1970) principles of interpersonal communication are: â€Å"Communication is complex. It involves a number of factors such as language, power, the relationship between the parties in the communication and other elements, and meaning is constructed through transactions with other people. Communication is continuous. Transactions are always taking place. Communication is dynamic; it is always changing due to the constant transformations between public, private, and behavioral cues. Communication is circular. Public cues and private cues are transformed into behavioral cues, and these behavioral cues then become public cues—and the process continues. Communication is unrepeatable. We cannot exactly repeat something we have said in the past. Even if our words are the†¦ How to cite Letter of Advice, Essay examples Letter of Advice Free Essays Letter of Advice COM200: Interpersonal Communication Instructor Sara Marcus January 9, 2012 Dear William and Linda, Let me start by saying congratulations on your recent nuptials. The two of you are off to an excellent start in wanting advice on how to efficaciously communicate with one another. In taking an interpersonal communication class, I have learned several concepts that I would like to share with you throughout this letter. We will write a custom essay sample on Letter of Advice or any similar topic only for you Order Now Communication is important in developing and maintaining a relationship. A healthy communication style is vital to longer lasting relationships. The article â€Å"Can We Talk† is about the role of communication in a marriage. Nara Schoenberg gave great insight to giving advice to many that are able to read it that are in a marriage. This article highlighted how with good communication skills a marriage will be able to sustain itself for a lifetime. The results of good effective communication habits will build a strong and long lasting relationship. In reading this article Schoenberg says that communication means that you’re sharing and really getting to know one another and happy marriages exhibits â€Å"self-disclosure,† or sharing your private feelings, fears, doubts and perceptions with your partner. These statements are what make this article so relatable to its readers. We communicate in different ways but finding a compatible form of communication is key to any relationship. Being able to communicate clearly and effective requires a certain level of confidence. The text book Making Connections: Understanding Interpersonal Communications explains that the basic principle of interpersonal communication deals with concept of â€Å"who are you†. Feeling sure and comfortable of your communicating skills will ensure good communication within the relationship. Your self-concept is how you look at yourself. It is a mental image that you have of yourself and it can relate to your mental strength or status in life. One’s self-concept affects one’s perception, attitude and behavior, which can be demonstrated during the process of interpersonal communication. Aspects of one’s life influence their self-concept, which not only affect how people perceive them but how they perceive themselves. In the process of communication, self-knowledge and the way one feel about oneself is revealed to others, and affects how others react to them. Consequently, the perceptions one believes others have of them affect how they receive their communication, which influences their response. In relationships you have to be cognizant of how the opposite sex perceives things. Men hear things differently than women. I relate this to my childhood when my parents would argue and my mother would say to my father: â€Å"You hear what you want to hear†. This is evident in the study that was referenced in the article Close Relationships Sometimes Mask Poor Communication†. In the study, researchers asked 24 married couples to take part in an experiment in which two sets of couples sat in chairs and tried to figure out the meaning of phrases whose meaning isn’t entirely clear. The example used was a wife who says to her husband, ‘it’s getting hot in here,’ as a hint for her husband to turn up the air conditioning a notch, may be surprised when he interprets her statement as a coy, amorous advance instead (Healthday, 2011). One way to avoid this mistake is not to be rushed and preoccupied. Stop and make sure you understand the perspective the other is trying to relay especially since the two of you are married. In being aware of the opposite sex, you have to be aware of how you say things as well. The tone of your voice can displace the message you are trying to send. The text suggests that work to shut judgments about the speaker’s appearance, tone of voice, or other such factors out of your mind when you are speaking with someone, and focus on the words and the meaning rather than on the person delivering the message. If you are unsure of a person’s meaning, it is not taboo to ask what is meant. This is a technique that I use in my own marriage. Before a disagreement takes place, I will say to my husband: I said†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ now what did you hear? This clears up what my intended message was and helps me to modify my tone or body language that my spouse may have found offensive. This was a hard lesson learned because I was the one that said things without considering how it sounds to my husband. That was not how I wanted to portray myself and not get into unnecessary arguments. Linda you also have to keep in mind that you become very animated when you ta lk. Although William knows this about you, it could become offensive in the heat of the moment. Dr. Terry Orbuch refers to this kind of body language as a determining factor in the early years of marriage. In her book, Marital Instability, she surveyed 199 African American couples and 174 White couples who were just married and found that body language can cause significant damage in a relationship if it is read the wrong way. William should be mindful of his always present smile. In a majority of cases a great smile is a good thing. However, in times of turmoil a smile can be mistaken to mean that you are not taking the situation seriously. An excellent way to avoid conflict is to develop good listening habits. We have, at some point, exhibited poor listening skills. Bad listening habits include: Lack of interest in the subject, focus on the person, not on the content, interrupting, focus on the detail, missing the big picture, body language that signals disinterest, letting emotions block the meaning, and daydreaming. All these things can put any relationship in a downward spin. These habits could lead to misunderstandings and arguments. There are ways to avoid this. One way is to give your mate your full attention. Attend to what they are saying not just with your ears but with your entire body. Make sure you are facing each other during the conversation. Having the right attitude contributes to your desire to want to know what the other is saying. The next thing is having patience and understanding. Sometimes you might have a difficult time getting your point clearly across. If your spouse attempts to help you say what is needed don’t get upset. This could be a good thing because they understand your point. This is always a way of showing support for them. Even if you do not agree with what they are saying, make sure respect what they have to say. Good listening skills also include knowing how to manage your reactions to what is being said. Before you respond, take a moment to think about what was said and how it makes you feel. Your response should reflect how you feel but should not sound like emotional tirade. A vital key to successful communication is having the ability to understand emotions and being able to express those emotions (Sole, 2011). This is often referred to as emotional intelligence. Emotional intelligence (EI) is the ability to identify, assess, and control the emotions of oneself and others. Emotional intelligence includes making good judgments about when to deal with emotions and keep them at bay. Kathy Sole feels that emotional intelligence also directly corresponds to emotional health—the higher your EI, the more emotionally healthy you are. Ones emotional health keeps you in tuned with your feelings while being exposed to the feelings of others. This is beneficial in a marital relationship because you don’t forget about you when dealing with your spouse’s feelings. The communication skills of any couple are established early on and can improve or become worse. In a marriage, communication skill should always improve and a step towards improvement is self-disclosure. Self-disclosure is the act of sharing aspects of your personal self with other people. This act allows you find commonalities with each other as well as dislikes. Being able to open up to others is essential to developing a deeper connection Self-disclosure and communication skills overall are important components of any healthy relationship. Self-disclosure lays the foundation for the type of relationship you will have with one another. Also it plays an important role in validating self-worth and identity. While self-disclosure have many benefits the amount of disclosure depends on what will be gained and how much are you losing to your partner. Being on the receiving end of disclosure requires a level of culpability and perhaps forgiveness. William and Linda again I want to congratulate you on your recent engagement. You two have a lifetime of perfecting your communication skills ahead of you. Using the concepts that I have mentioned in this letter will make it easier for you. Thank you for the honor of asking for my advice and wish you many years of happiness. Love, Tasha References Anonymous,. Close Relationships Sometimes Mask Poor Communication. (2011,  January). U. S. News ; World Report,1. Retrieved January 9, 2012, from ABI/INFORM Global. (Document ID:  2270370591). NARA SCHOENBERG. (2011,  February  6). Can we talk? Researcher talks about the role of communication in marriages. Houston Chronicle,p. 7. Retrieved January 9, 2012, from ProQuest Newsstand. (Document ID:  2260839481). Sole, K. (2011). Making Connections: Understanding Interpersonal Communication. San Diego: Bridgepoint Education. Orbuch, T. (2007). Interpersonal Relationships, in The Blackwell Encyclopedia of Sociology, G. Ritzer (Ed. ), (Oxford: Blackwell Publishing), 2390-2393. Veroff, J. , ; Orbuch, T. L. (2009). Studying Marital Relationships. In an edited volume called Research Methodologies in  African American Communities, Edited by J. Jackson ; C. Howard (Eds. ), Sage Publications. How to cite Letter of Advice, Papers