Improving Relationship Communication Journal Exercise

This entry is part 1 of 2 entries asking you to reflect and assess communication within a current relationship in your life. Relationships go through stages, some last a very long time while others are much briefer. Choose a relationship that is important to you, this could be a past relationship or a newer relationship, but it must be a relationship that is still ongoing (for example, writing a friend that you haven’t talked to in a year will NOT work). Select a relationship where you perceive a communication problem or an opportunity to improve communication.

Directions:

Provide the background for the relationship you are focusing on for this assignment (i.e. what is the nature of the relationship – sibling, friendship, parent, significant other/partner, co-worker? How did you meet? How long have you known each other?)
Explain how you define a “relationship”, citing specifically from the approaches in the text (Chapter 2, p. 27, “What is a relationship?”)
Identify 2 – 3 challenges or complications in the relationship you’ve selected for this assignment.
Explain how you’d like this relationship to change/improve in the future (within the next six months to a year)
Discuss 3 – 5 specific action steps you will take in order to achieve the goals you’ve established for this relationship.
Note, these should not be JUST action-oriented (such as “I will call my Mom twice a week), you should include action steps that connect to relational messaging (p. 36).
Please make sure that the action steps clearly connect to the challenges, complications, and/or goals you’ve discussed previously in the paper. To be clear, I will want to know more about how you intend to change the content of the communication in this relationship.