The Johari Window

Today I learned about an eye-opening model used in the psychology and communication world. This tool, created by Joseph Luft and Harry Ingham in 1995 will help you better understand interpersonal communications and relationships. It contains four panes and it helps explain the roles of self-awareness and self disclosure in relationships. I found it to be incredibly useful that I knew I needed to share it with others.



Open: Known to self

The part of the self containing information that is known to both the self and others. This size and content depends on your relationship to the "others."
Examples include: Name, age, occupation, etc.

Blind: Not known to self

The part of the self known to others, but not known to oneself; being oblivious about your own faults and virtues. The "stuff" that drives others "crazy" about you.
Examples include: Interrupting, not taking your shoes off open entering a friends' home, not staying in contact, etc.

Hidden: Known to self

The part of the self that contains information about the self known to oneself, but that is hidden from others.
Food for thought: What would it take to reveal some of this information to others? How much self-disclosure would it take to have a commonality with someone? How long do you need to know someone to reveal this information?
Examples include: A secret that you are selective in who you tell.

Unknown: Not known to self

The part of the self that that is unknown to oneself and others.
Food for thought: What do you think determines more development in this area?
Examples include: A moment where you realize something you cannot believe you did not realize before.

If you want to know more about The Johari Window, search about it on the web. I have only included the knowledge that I understand and grasp about this concept. There is more to this tool than what I learned about in class.

Superhero Powers

Monday started the first day of my second semester at UW-La Crosse. I have some really neat classes this semester. One of them is called Intimate Relationships. My professor had everyone introduce themselves to the class by saying their name, hometown, major, minor, future plans, best/worst piece of dating advice, and what superhero power you would want to have (if you could have one, of course). There was a number of great responses from my fellow classmates. There were two in particular that really caught my attention, hence this blog post. Before I tell you, I am going to keep you in suspense for a moment.

I think most of us have been asked the question: What superhero power would you have if you could have one? At least I think it is safe to say that it is something all of us have thought about at one point. What one would you want? You may want to be able to read minds. Perhaps you want to be able to fly. Or maybe you want to become invisible. These were all responses that some of my classmates expressed Monday night. I always thought I had an idea of what one I would pick, but after two responses I heard earlier this week...I have changed my mind.

What if you had a superhero power that benefited others? Think about it. Most of us are selfish and automatically want a power that would benefit us which is typical. Never in my life have I had someone mention a superhero power that benefited others. One girl in my class said she would want to be able to heal others. In fact, when I heard this, I was so shocked by her intelligent response that I am sure my jaw was dropped; I was immediately jealous that I had not thought of something so powerful and selfless myself. The other one that was mentioned by a guy in my class was to be able to control emotions of others. These two I think go hand in hand, but I find them both to be important things to think about.

The truth is: I think that we all have a superhero power like these, but we do not always use it. When we are with people, do we make them feel better? Do we make them feel worse? Do we elevate their mood? Do we decrease their mood? Do we make them happy? Do we make them sad? These are all essential questions that we should all ask ourselves. What type of an impact or impression are you personally leaving on those whom you come in contact with randomly or frequently? All of us have natural talents, but it is how we use them that make us special. I think it would be incredibly valuable to have a superhero power to heal others or to control emotions of others. For now, I will settle for making sure that I am always leaving a positive impact on those whom I come in contact with. It may not be a power, but it is a choice--and a powerful one.

Newly Revised Bucket List

In July 2009, I created my first ever "Bucket List." It's nearly a year and a half later and upon reviewing my list, I have learned that my life has dramatically changed in the last year and a half which means many of my aspirations have changed. I decided it is time to do some revising. Below you will find my new bucket list. To see my former bucket list, click on this link: http://elezpona.blogspot.com/2009_07_01_archive.html

It is not an incredibly different list; however, some of my goals have changed and are more specific. I have also decided some things are not things I want to do anymore.

Here is my new and improved Bucket List (in no particular order):

1. Go backpacking through Europe the summer after I graduate college and see the following countries: Portugal, Spain, France, Germany, Italy, Czech Republic, Greece, Netherlands, Denmark, Austria, United Kingdom, Iceland, Ireland, Sweden, Poland, Scotland, and Switzerland.

2. Graduate college.

3. Have a career that involves working with teens.

4. Study Abroad.

5. Go bungee jumping.

6. Get married.

7. Visit China.

8. Participate in the National Student Exchange.

9. Live in the moment.

10. Jump off a cliff into a body of water.

11. Live in Montana.

12. Adopt a retired greyhound.

13. Incorporate public speaking into my career.

14. Fly a plane.

15. Go zip lining.

16. Take a tropical cruise in the Caribbean.

17. Be a member of another Drill Team with my horse, Vogue.

18. Get a tattoo.

19. Develop a winter hobby.

20. Visit the Atlantis Hotel in the Bahama's.

21. Take a hot air balloon ride.

22. Go white water rafting.

23. Hike the Grand Canyon.

24. Go horseback riding in the surf of an ocean.

25. Stay passionate about the things I am involved with.

26. Go sky diving.

27. Make a difference in the lives of others.

28. Write a movie script.

29. Learn how to dance.

30. Visit the Amazon.

31. Be happy in the things I do.

32. See the Sahara Desert and tour Africa while I am there.

33. Live in a different country.

34. Scuba dive along the Great Barrier Reef.

35. Celebrate New Year's Eve in NYC.

36. Learn something new each year.

In the last year, I have learned many new things. But my favorite? Learning how important friends are and who my friends really are.

37. Attend a Super Bowl.

38. Kiss in the rain.

39. Own my own business - preferably a small animal boarding facility.

40. See as much of the world as possible. I hope to see Egypt, New Zealand, Australia, Guatemala, Fiji, Belize, Morocco, Madagascar, Peru, Chile, Costa Rica, Cabo San Lucas (Mexico), and Japan.

41. Train another horse from start to finish.

42. Have a small hobby farm with horses, goats, and chickens.

43. Design and build my own home one day.

44. Run a half marathon.

45. Get into the best shape of my life and stay that way.

46. See Nickelback, Lady Gaga, and Avril Lavigne in concert.

47. Go to a Packer game.

48. Graduate college with at least a 3.5 GPA.

49. See all 50 states.

50. Get my motorcycle license.

101 Stories

Not only do I blog myself, but I also enjoy reading blogs. I came across a very inspiring blog post that I think everyone should read. It came from the blog "Marc and Angel Hack Life." Read, cry, smile, and enjoy. It's 101 short stories that will make you think and give you a different perspective on your life as well as the lives of others.

Here's the link to the blog and the blogpost is dated December 27th, 2010.

http://www.marcandangel.com/

Top 20 Moments of Semester #1 at UW-La Crosse

The last three and a half months have been full of adventure. After starting life at a new school surrounded by new people, new professors, new experiences, and new opportunities, I've experienced a lot of "moments." I have compiled a list of moments which may be experiences, realizations, or accomplishments to sum up what my life has been like during my first semester at a new college.

Here we go:

1. Knowing that I would do things EXACTLY the same if given the chance to rewind to September of 2007 and start over.

2. Loving the fact that I only came in contact with 9 smokers while making my way around campus the entire semester.

3. Being taken out by a skateboarder--I broke my arm. Yes, skateboarding is the way to get around at UW-La Crosse. The sidewalks can be a scary place. Okay, I was kidding about the whole breaking my arm part.

4. Spending $101.25 on a calculator and realizing it was worth every penny.

5. Receiving a 94% on my third statistics exam.

6. Receiving a 99% on my fourth statistics exam, which was the highest in the class.

7. Passing my statistics class with not only an expected C, but an AB! If I put my mind to something, I can accomplish anything.

8. Deciding that I will have no career that has anything to do with statistics, despite the fact that I do actually know what I am doing.

(Side note: statistics was the biggest pain in my you-know-what all semester)

9. Being reminded once again that in life, there are no coincidences; I made an immeasurably beneficial resource on campus the second week of the semester.

10. Developing a highly effective and routine study schedule.

11. Being completely surprised by how different people can act two hours south of where I formerly went to school. That's right, people are not always that friendly.

12. Falling madly in love with The Rec.

13. Realizing I spend more time in the library than my own bed.

14. Deciding that I will not decide what I want to do with my life until I absolutely have to.

15. Getting offered an internship on the spot at a place I was applying to volunteer for.

16. Staring to volunteer every week doing something I love.

17. Having a person dressed as a gorilla and a person dressed as a banana run through my music lecture two days before Halloween.

18. Being asked to TA a class by my professor for next semester. UW-La Crosse started to feel like home for me that day.

19. Deciding that it is okay to not work as often as I would like.

20. Keeping the weight I lost over the summer off, yay me!

Despite many hardships over the past three and a half months, transferring has been the best decision I could have ever made. I am incredibly thankful for how much my life has fallen into place and how many opportunities I have had presented to me. I chose to focus on the more positive moments of the semester because when I look back, I do not want to think about all the struggles that I endured during this time in my life.