I am a Strategic Processor

I have a strategic way of thinking. I discovered this through taking the Strength Finders test about 2 years ago. My number one strength is Strategic. Once I found this out, things made more sense to me. I thought “Oh! That’s why I do what I do or plan the way that I plan” When I’ writing I’m thinking how is this going to sound? Will it offend anyone? Will it touch anyone? Am I rambling? I do try to make a point and get to the point. However, I love the details. A friend shared an experience they had with me the other day via messaging. His recount of the story was detailed to the point that I felt like I was having this experience myself. He was very creative with his writing. When I think of writing, I think mine would be more text book sounding. I wouldn’t add in how the sun felt, how it smelled outside, and all of those details that make stories fun.

I write with a goal in mind. I plot in my head how I’m going to get there. I plan how I’m going to pull it all together. And a lot of the details get left out that other people might add. I have to actually be intentional to include those details. Strategic is about what’s the quickest and most effective way to get the point across with it sounding interesting all at the same time.

This is how I process everything. I am processing while having a conversation. Like what does this person need in this situation? I’m thinking what is going to be the most effective thing for this person to know right now. I believe this strength and the way that I process is beneficial to being a social worker. I am always trying to figure it out. I also ask a lot of questions. I have already figured out potential areas of need and I can empower them for them to come up with the solution through directive questioning.

If you kind of see the potential areas of need or problem areas, you can formulate your questions to get them to see it if they haven’t already. As they discover what you’ve already seen, they are ready to move towards a solution. While I am strategically processing, I am also thinking of possible solutions.

Once I discovered that I process this way, I am more conscious of it and am able to use it more intentionally and effectively.

I'm the right side!

Left Brain: "Critical"	Right Brain: "Creative"
Ability to think about the parts	Ability to see the whole
One at a time	In a flash
1+1=2 style logic	intuition and insight
careful, step-by-step work	sponteaneity
linear thinking	Visual or spatial thinking
memorizing	improvising
grammar, spelling and technical skills	flow, rhythm of sentences
structuring paragraphs and ideas	visual images, picturing your thoughts
numbers, facts and statistics	emotions, feelings, visions, dreams
evidence	metaphor
strategizing to convince an audience	trusting what you feel
tables like this one!	drawings or stories
separating ideas- Analysis	connecting ideas- Synthesis

As I studied the left and the right brain functions, I would have assumed based on their titles that I function more from the left side of the brain. However, as I read the descriptions of the right brain I realized that I associate more to the right side. I have never thought of myself as a creative person. However, the descriptions are all me!

On the left side, I am good at memorizing, numbers and strategizing. On the right side, I am able to see the big picture and details at the same time. I have a good intuition. I am definitely a visual thinker. I have to see something to get it. I am really good at improvising and the flow of sentences when writing is not a challenge. I am really good at communicating my feelings, visions, dreams and emotions and I trust what I feel. I pretty much have covered the entire right brain descriptions.

I was surprised to find out that I function mostly from the right side. Good fun!!

Constraints that I discovered to writing

I LOVE drawing pictures with crayons; it feels so good. I feel like a child again. As I draw, I wonder why we ever stop coloring with crayons. Why do we ever get to a point in our lives where we are too old to color or to mature? What exactly is it? 

As I drew pictures of what my constraints are to writing, I discovered that when it comes to free writing, I have a hard time coming up with a subject to write about. If I'm given a subject, I don't have a problem writing. It’s when I have to come up with the subject that my mind goes blank. This is why I have never created a blog before. I have had the desire to do so but the first thing that comes to my mind is “What will I say?”  I ponder that for some time and then I don’t start the blog because I can’t come up with a subject.

I have recently been thinking that I need to just start writing about my journey and self discovery. The next thing I think is that no one would want to read it. I know where that is coming from. It’s the feeling that my voice is worth something. It is believing that what I have to say is valuable and it’s worth reading. It’s time to start!

One of the other constraints that I realized is having the time to write. I am usually having thoughts about what I would want to journal or blog when I can’t sit down and write at that very moment. I need to come up system that I can take short notes wherever I am at or speak it in to a small recorder. Because by the time that I get home, I am not thinking about it anymore, nor do I have the time to write it down right away. I eventually lose the details. By the time that I can sit down and write about my experience, most of the details that make it interesting have been lost in my brain somewhere.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated as this has been something that I have thought over for the past few years.

Living with Honor

Learning to live from a standpoint of honor can be a challenge. The reason I say this is because honor is something we give because we are honorable. We don’t show honor because people are honorable. This can be the case but it is not always the case. Living with honor for all people means to value and respect others regardless of their life choices and regardless of their actions towards you. It’s easy to treat someone badly who has wrong you but to treat someone with honor who has wronged you is another thing. This is how character is developed.

Showing honor is treating people respectfully even if they have different beliefs than you do, such as religious beliefs. It’s hard for us to understand someone who has different beliefs than we do and we generally do not understand something that is different. This is where it can be a challenge to value what we don’t understand. Honoring is showing value for what we don’t understand. It is withholding judgment against someone because they have a different set of values. Judgment is very easy to fall in to. Most of us would say we are not being judgmental, however, most of us do judge other people’s actions. It’s one thing to say we do not agree with their actions. Judgment comes in when we say they shouldn’t have done that or they shouldn’t act that way. And really, who are we to say that someone should or shouldn’t behave a certain way unless we have lived the life they have lived.

I believe judgment comes from our life experiences and what we have been taught to be right and wrong. Whether we have learned from our parents, work or friends, they are all life experiences which have taught us what we should value. If someone else’s values do not line up, it is easy to judge someone’s behavior. As judgment enters our thoughts, honor is affected. It could be a look, a thought or an action that shows someone that we do not honor them.

To honor is to value what we don’t understand, respect people for where they are at in life and withhold judgment. This is something I am striving for in my life. I believe as a social worker, this is the most character trait that we must exhibit.  This is the underlying action that empowers the people that we will work with. We can address the strengths, be there for them and refer them to all of the necessary resources but if we don’t honor them, it will not be received well and will not feel genuine to them.

Moving Forward

This has been a very quick moving week and semester. I have learned so much about myself and how we relate to others through this last two weeks of readings in the other classes.

The excerpt that was posted about silence was interesting and true. I believe that so many times, we don't take the time to sit in silence and t allow an internal process to happen. There is much activity going on when there is silence.

I have experienced so much revelation through being quiet, taking walks by myself and when driving in the car by myself. It is a necessity of life to allow this to be part of our experience on a regular basis.

I bele3ive that we have the answers with inside of us to our own lives. If we search for an answer or solution, we can generally get the answer internally if we wait and listen for the answer.

I have experienced this many times. Such as, I keep making the same choice over and over which is not serving my greatest good. Or I keep reacting to a situation the same way when i want to change it. If I ask myself, why am I doing this or reacting this way, I almost always get the answer when I and being silent. Sometimes it takes a few hours and sometimes a couple days, but it always comes when I am being silent. And it always relates to something in the past that is triggering my responses. Once I am aware of the reason, I am able to work towards changing it.

I believe this is a great way to empower clients to look inside themselves for the answer. They they will continue to do this once our services are no longer needed.

I am looking forward to learning more about myself through these classes. The more I learn about myself, the better I will be able to serve my clients. :)

Empowerment

This week has been exciting with the new information. One of our classes spoke on empowerment in working with clients in social services. I am excited to learn that social services is serving from an empowerment standpoint. I am a true believer of empowering individuals. It's all about calling out the gold in someone, people know their weaknesses. They know the dirt in their lives, it's a little more challenging to see the treasures. We have an opportunity to reveal the treasures in their lives. What an awesome job! We Might be the one person in their lives that is telling them good instead of the negative.

For me in my life, I would have loved to have someone bringing light through empowerment to my ircumstance. I felt alone, yet I was strong. I was resilient. I had tenacity. I had a great family who was struggling. I needed outside input to point these things out. I believe if that would have happened when I was a teenager, I would not have made so many bad choices for so many years. I thought tht no one cared about me so why should I care about myself. I believe it would have taken just one person to pull me up, to empower me, encourage me and help me to see all the good in my life instead of all the bad happening around me.

As I grew older, I began to have people around me who encouraged me which in turn empowered me.

So, to encourage each of you future social workers, you never know what an encouraging word will do for a young person. Empowering a child or an adult who has no hope can change
 their life forever!! Always share from your heart, have compassion, never be judgemental and love, love love what you do. Because each and every day, change is happening in the lives we touch. May be little or it may be big, but nevertheless, it is change. :)

This has been the most interesting week. We did an eco-map and I realized that I have an amazing support system in my life. I know all of these people are there and the relationships that I have with them, however, it's another thing to see it on paper. I also realized through this assignment that I have people to pull on. I need to utilize my resources more than I have been. I have a tendency to do everything myself. I don't take a lot of time for myself. This is something that I know I need to do but haven't because I have kids and am always taking care of them. However, I need to take care of me too. I am also not being a very good example in that area so they can see the importance so they do it for themselves one day.

I am also excited about the research class because we are addressing a problem that I am very passionate about. The problem is addressing the issue of children being mistreated when they are in foster homes. These children have already been removed from their homes and everything they have known and now they are in a home with strangers and on top of it are being mistreated or abused. They are powerless in the decisions that are being made in their lives and are placed with people who are taking advantage of the system. How do we stop this? How do we change this? How do we protect these children form further trauma?
The foster care system is a great thing, in theory. But there are a lot of down sides, a lot of loop holes. What can social worker's do to bridge the gap between what the foster care system is supposed to be doing and what is actually happening?

This is the problem that my group will be addressing this semester in the research class.