Experiential Exercise Analysis

Keeping Everyone Satisfied

For the experiential exercise assignment, I chose Bailey Johnston as my partner. Bailey and I live on the same floor and have the same group of friends, so I didn’t foresee any obstacles or complications because I knew her so well. On Sunday, February 22nd, we spent the day downtown and finished with a little studying in our room. First, we went to brunch at Gwinn, where we discovered that we had to talk about every decision we make because we do everything together. Then, we took the bus to Pike Place and walked through the market, and then we went shopping at a few different stores. After a few hours, we took the bus home and did some homework and ate dinner. All of this was exponentially harder while being attached

Hall’s spatial zones — was clearly displayed in this exercise. According to Hall, the relationship between others and ourselves determines what space we let people into. Bailey and I are good friends, but we are not on the level to let each other into our intimate space zone. I completely understand why it is usually reserved for romantic partners, because Bailey and I experienced physicality with each other that we were not comfortable with. While we were at brunch, we had to sit so close to each other that our plates were practically touching, and we kept bumping into each other’s arms. When we were studying on my bed, we had to sit directly next to each other, so close that we could see each other’s computer screens. While we were walking through the crowd at Pike Place, people kept trying to break apart Bailey and me so we had to link arms to maintain our distance. All of these behaviors made us uncomfortable. We were constantly put in a position that made us close when we weren’t ready for it, and therefore we were mutually dissatisfied with how our day

Carl Rodgers outlined that if we want to improve our interpersonal communication, we need to think of others before ourselves. At brunch, Bailey and I had to go to every station together, regardless of if we wanted what was available there. When we had sat down, Bailey realized that she forgot to get ketchup. I offered to go back, but she rejected my offer, not wanting to complicate the situation. She compromised to make our day less troublesome. Throughout the day, I was hyper sensitive to both Bailey’s verbal and nonverbal messages to make sure that I was keeping her happy. After learning our lesson, during dinner we made sure we had everything we needed before we sat down. I kept assuring Bailey that if she wanted to get more food that I would go with her, because I didn’t want her to have to compromise again. I was “other-oriented” with Bailey when I made sure that her needs were met, even when she was too afraid to speak up. Throughout the day, Bailey and I were “other-oriented” towards each other to guarantee that we were mutually