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.

Introduction

Hello!!
My name is Susanne. I living in Redding, CA. I am Social work major because I want to see child abuse and neglect ended. I know that's a big dream but it is what I want. I may not ever see that, but I can be part of the solution.

I feel like I have things to share that may benefit someone out there in cyberland. I guess, it is sitting down and processing my thoughts, taking the time to put them down and feeling that they are worthy to be read. I know that they are, however, I grew up feeling that what I had to say was not so I guess that is still lingering around, somewhat. Well! Here we are! And I am blogging.

This is another reason why I chose social work as my major and career direction. I feel that there are probably a lot of people like me, kids specifically,  who don';t feel that what they have to say is important or that anyone is even listening. I want to be there to listen to them and to make a difference in their lives by letting them know that they have a voice. To show them that they are important and valuable.