Grace

Grace is such an important part of being happy that I think it deserves more attention in the class. People waste their whole lives being bitter and resentful. If the benefits of forgiving were made more public in our culture I believe that we would see a significant decrease in the amount of unhappy, angry, depressed people in society. It takes a lot to forgive (a lot), but when the consequences of holding on to negative feelings are weighed, I truly believe that we owe it to ourselves to let go, even when there isn’t any reason to do so. I’m not saying that we should have to keep toxic people in our lives. It is always o.k. and best to walk away from abusive situations whether emotional or physical. All I am saying is that once we have been violated, there is nothing that can change this; it happened. The only thing left to do is decide what we want to do with our feelings, and I think the best choice is always forgiveness because it frees our heart from the pain. A lot of people are struggling with this right now, and I think the subject should be given more focus.

We should have to rotate our responses from week to week in order to be fair

My favorite thing about this class was our discussions. I loved reading my blog responses. Everyone in class is so encouraging and friendly. It was almost like a little secret getaway from my husband and kids where I could have short exchanges with others that were sharing in my class experience. My least favorite thing about the class was noticing when others did not have comments on their blogs. I don’t know if they cared, but I did. I tried to visit everyone’s blog at least once throughout the course. I know that our responses were not structured in this way because there is no way of ensuring that students are going to do the assigned postings, but I do believe that there is a way to better ensure that no one is being left out. Maybe students should have to respond to three different classmates from the previous week. Even if they just go back and forth between six blogs, this would be better than having them visit their favorite three all semester long. In this way, students have a better chance of not being overlooked as often. I don’t know, maybe it's just the mom in me wanting everyone to get a turn. J

I learned how to be a better communicator

I am a better communicator as a result of this course. I have come to realize that I was guilty of monopolizing “continuously focusing communication on [myself] instead of listening to the person who is talking” (Wood, 153). I have since invested much effort into eliminating this ineffective listening habit. Like most, I am turned off by self-centeredness, so when I became aware that I was demonstrating this attitude through my communication I was appalled and embarrassed. No one had ever brought it to my attention (to their good, patient, and tolerant testament), but a big part of being a good communicator is self-monitoring, and I do not think you should wait until someone complains if you truly want to improve and be a good listener and friend. We all make mistakes, and we can all learn from them. A great way to support one another when we are guilty of being poor listeners is the practice of dual-perspective. Because communication can be subjective we should all attempt to practice dual-perspective in order to prevent hurt feelings whenever possible. By looking at situations from another’s perspective we can save ourselves a lot of time by understanding their point/intentions from the start; rather than having to deal with the conflict-awkwardness-explanation-understanding process. This class opened my eyes to just how big a part communication plays in every aspect of our lives. Our communication styles impact the overall success or failure of our relationships, careers, and first impressions. For this reason, everyone can benefit from courses like these. I believe that we will all profit from this investment in not only our education , but personal lives as well.