Week 13: Patterns of Thinking

I have always loved a good story! Has anyone seen the movie Big Fish? It is a wonderful movie that is about a story that just bounces around to a bunch of different stories which all make up one big, beautiful story. I feel that Americanized ways of thinking have no flavor or excitement; it is simply made up of bland, factual thoughts, which are just as good as any other thought, just not my preference. I thought that each of the patterns of thinking had their own purpose and I thought that they can be useful to different kinds of people. I enjoyed learning about these thinking patterns they were all very interesting. I felt as though I could relate to all the subfields of thinking patterns and they all had significance in their areas. To be completely honest, the Americanized way of thinking is predominate in my writings in school and academic ventures and all the others ways of thinking are part of my everyday life. They are what make things more exciting; get out and try it.

Week 11: Right v Left Brained

This week was very interesting. I learned that I am a lot more of both brains than I though I was. I have always kind of looked at myself as right brained, I've always had such an innate feel for art and abstract thinking and creativity but have found that I am more balanced than I had originally  anticipated. I love organizing, although it may be in a different way than by numbers or alphabetical order, and I also love to critically think and problem solve through puzzles and that sort of thing. I have found that maybe to get more in balance I should just do things my own way and make sure that both sides of my brain get exercise=)

Week 8!!!

Hello everyone! This week we were challenged to think abot our obstacles and express them in a creative way. I drew out a few of my obstacles and couldn't help but be influenced by the prompt and draw myself in the middle. I drew myself as a tree, I think because I see myself as always growing and needing to learn new things. Around me I drew little bubbles with pictures of my obstacles. For example, one of my obstacles was a picture of a house because I am now away from my home it causes me stress and uneasiness. Another picture was that of a computer with a paper and pens. This represented the fact that I am taking online courses and do not have the in-class instruction that teachers give. The last picture I'd like to discuss was that of a clock because I feel like time is an inevitable thing that must be worked with, and I have not been doing so well lately. Thanks for reading!

Freewriting!!!

I thought it was a lot easier to write knowing that no one else was going to read it. I wrote down whatever came to my mind for a timed 5 minutes and spent an extra 7 seconds finishing my last thought. In this writings my thoughts were very scrambled from thinking about topics including all my school due dates, not being home with my family, my friends and boyfriend, my roommate situations, and all the things that are happening in my life at this moment. I found that writing down all of my thoughts I was relaxed and found that even though some of my thoughts weren't so pleasant, it felt better to tell the paper what I was thinking than just hearing myself over and over again. After I reviewed what I wrote I saw that my thoughts seemed to revert back to the same topics. For example, I was thinking about the topics mentioned in 350 about pregnancy and it just got me thinking about my family and stuff.

WEEK 6

I believe that what Paulo was saying about silence is totally true. I believe that some of the most powerful things can be communicated without verbal communication. I think it is critical for speech and communication to occur. If silence was not available nothing could ever be communicated and people would lose important information. As social workers, silence is going to b one of our best allies when talking and interacting with others. First, our clients depend on us to be there for them and to be able to voice themselves with us. They depend on us to listen to them and to respond appropriately by allowing them to utilize us as an outlet. Secondly, our co-workers need us to pay silence when they are discussing things of value, whether it's listening for cnstuctive feedback, advise, help, or whatever the situation. Finally, other people in our lives need us to reward them with silence. Silence allows us to process and reflect on information, take in information from others, and allows us to utilize other means of expression and communication.

Week 4!!!

I think there are severall ways to facilitate the growth and overcoming of reluctance in others. First, I think by modeling people can receive a sense of hope or even confidence. By others hearing you talk or speak out, they will learn from you and hopefully your confidence can lead them into expressing themselves. Also I think a good technique is preparing people early on, like in the childhood years. This can prepare them for beig adults and speaking up for what is right, especially when it will make a big difference. A third thing I would like to bring up is practicing. I don't think enough people get enough practice in voicing their opinions, especially to others of authority and this stigma must change. How can change occur if we cannot talk and voice our opinions to the people who represent us? Practice is essential because if you don't you lose the skills or at least aren't as good at them. Support of each other is inclded in all of this too because without someone to listen or read, there's no use in talking or writing. Let's all get involved with our communities and get some ideas spreading around!

Week 3 with Maggie Craft!!!

I enjoyed the guest speaker this week, Maggie Craft. She had so much experience and knowledge to share with us and I feel that just by hearing her, how she dealt with situations and how she developed herself among a new culture, I grew a little bit. She was very informative and had heart-warming experiences to share with us all, although there were a couple bad ones, over all they were all learning experiences.

Week 2!!!

I think learning requires a lot of collaboration and interaction with others. To learn we all need to engage in conversation and help each other by giving our different views on different topics. By hearing each others' unique perspectives and experiences our outlook on the world will change. With more and more exposure with others we will begin to be more and more acceptant and our outlooks will widen. I like to contribute my own personal experiences so that I can reflect on things and so that I can contribute my perspective and mindset to the group.
(Sorry it took me sooooo long to figure this thing out)

Introduction!!!

Hello everyone!!! Just starting at HSU BSW so exciting!!! Came to live in Humboldt County from Los Angeles because I wanted something new to experience, and HSU has not let me down! I chose the SW field sort of on accident. I originally wanted to be an Architect, but then I had some great experiences with the elderly and realized a need. I have always believed dreams were sort of overrated, people can't always do what they want because there are things that need to be done. So I have come to enjoy this field and hope I can leave something behind for people to follow in the future. I look forward to working with all the people involved with the HSU BSW program!!!