Personal Analysis Paper - Essay Example

Personal Analysis Paper The I chose for this personal analysis activity would be my best friend. I met her in my first year of high school because we were attending the same class. Though I never thought we would get along so well because she did not seem to be approachable and talkative as I was but we ended up developing a closer and stronger relationship because of the interesting things we learn from each other through our differences in opinions and outlook in life. We have heard of how “opposites attract” and it really worked for both of us because of how we manage to give constructive criticisms and at the same time maintain an open mind towards a diverse opinion. Until now, we still talk to each other during and after class about school, friends, family, and our plans for college.
Analyzing how we converse with each other, I guess it would be one that is characterized by a free flowing and unconstrained type of communication. We talk about anything and everything under the sun, from serious matters to the most absurd ones. However, this does not mean that we always have the same thoughts on everything. Both of us both love to talk about subjects in school, which areas of our lessons we hardly understand and also which parts we show weakness in, the upcoming parties and activities we are going to attend to, and most especially our plans for college that includes the course we are planning to take, the dream school we wish to get in to and etc. However, what differentiates both of us in what we communicate would be that I would not hesitate to talk about sensitive issues such as family and financial problems I am going through. On the other hand, my best friend would prefer to take serious issues she is facing on her own to analyze and contemplate on.
Two of the barriers of communication we both have in our relationship would be the fact that I am the talker while she is a good listener and at the same time the frame of reference we have in our conversations. Though I would usually ask questions about her to dig deeper into her life, she would usually answer me with one-liner statements and proceed with the conversation by asking me more about my day or a certain topic we are talking about. Also, I would say that because I share almost everything about my life to her, she would have more frame of reference in giving me advice. In my part, I only have a few frame of reference when it comes to helping her with the more serious issues about her life because she is not the sharing type of person. With these said, the strongest communication factor that causes us conflict would be when she decides to get into her cave and not talk to me for days that makes me feel unimportant in her life.
As part of this personal analysis, I used some irritating listening habits such as interrupting the speaker and forgetting about what was talked about previously. In doing so, I observed that my best friend would be more verbally unwilling to share and non-verbally would just prefer to go back to doing what she is previously doing before talking to me.
After this activity, I strongly believe that I am a content-oriented listener that makes me ask questions in between the conversation to get to the smallest detail. This is the way I formulate the advice I give my best friend. Though I know I am not much of a good listener, in asking questions, I believe I am able to give her a better advice and for me it is important. Read More