A Dose of People Skill?

What does interpersonal relationship means? How do we define the boundaries between all the relationships we've had or are trying to maintain in life? What kind of relationships are we attempting to establish? How do we apply the different skills we have or have learned in order to establish a new relationship or keep a certain relationship going? Is there such a thing as "inborn" skills when it comes to dealing with people around us?

Those were all the questions racing into my mind after a personal incident occured to me sometime ago. I am probably one of the few if not many people who lacks the outstanding skills interacting with other human beings. I must have flunked the subject unconsciously many many times in my past life. I am naturally shy and it takes a while for me to warm up to people. Some people may think I am stuck up but the truth is most often than not I just don't have the balls to strike up a conversation and keep it flowing.

But I still think to be really good in socializing with people one must have the confidence, exposure and training. I believe all of those things play important roles in shaping one's skills. One goal is to expose oneself to as many different types of people as one could muster and to many different situations. As for my own preference, I feel more comfortable interacting with folks from an older generation. Not only do they have a long range of experience/knowledge base but they have more patience. My partiality may have stemmed from being raised by my grandparents. Although they were strict they gave me the opportunity to make decisions affecting my life. And of course a barage of long lectures before and after was ever present. But one should not limit himself or herself to just one group of people. To be really successful in this area of interacting with one's world one must be open to mixing with any age group, people from all walks of life, people from difference background and so forth.

Another key is to keep an open mind and not be judgemental. A close mind would not work.

As I have stated earlier, after a not so pleasant experience, I suddenly had the light bulb turned on. As I embark on a mission trying to understand my shortcoming(s), I find myself searching for the real meaning of interpersonal relationship. Then I realized why I am failing with my personal relationships. Another lesson learned and still learning...