Josh's Journal Reflections

 Cross-sex Friendships I believe that cross-sex friendships can exist without romantic attraction, despite what some people may propose. Due to how a lot of people were raised, they have been taught to segregate themselves by sex, and believe that cross-sex relationships only exist as a vehicle for romantic attraction. In school, boys and girls may be separated into different classes for gym as well as family life. So naturally children would be more interested in being friends with members of the same sex.       "In many schools, young boys and girls are placed in separate gym classes, asked to line up separately        for class, and instructed to engage in competitions pitting 'the boys against the girls'" (Reflect & Relate,      p. 362)     Personally, I have several female friends that are not at all attractive to me, simply because I only see them as friends, and nothing more, and believe that that is perfectly fine and natural. Some of my male friends belie

 Pluralistic Family In family dynamics, there are several different types of communication patterns. These determine how the family interacts with each other. All of these patterns are determined by how conversational the family is and its conformity. My family would be considered pluralistic. A pluralistic family is characterized by high conversation and low conformity. A pluralistic family may be more relaxed, but still values maintaining direct communication through conversation.            " Pluralistic families enjoy debating the issues of the day, and judge one another’s arguments on their         merit rather than on whether they mesh with other members’ attitudes." (Reflect & Relate, p.335)     My family fits the description of the pluralistic family, because we talk a lot, and have dinner together, but at the same time, my parents are usually pretty relaxed and let my sister and I be more independent. When my sister and I were young, my family aligned more with t

 Proximity After taking a love language test, I scored highest in quality time, which was what I expected. Part of the quality time that I enjoy is being close to the other person. Proximity just entails being near a loved one, regardless if you are doing anything, or simply just sitting next to each other. When I feel close to someone, all I need to do to enhance my love for this person is to simply hang out with them.      "Like Pat and Tiffany, you’re likely to feel more attracted to those with whom you have frequent                    contact and less attracted to those with whom you interact rarely" (Reflect & Relate, p.259) When I was in a relationship with my girlfriend at the time, we could just sit in the same room as each other, and we would enjoy each others presence. We didn't even need to talk, we just needed each other's company. Unfortunately, when we broke up, it was because of COVID. When we couldn't hang out with each other for all that time,