The journey I have been walking these past 2 years has launched me into a process of getting to know myself all over again. Actually even as I make this observation, I realize it is not all over again but more like finally getting to know the real me. All that said, I struggled some today as we were given a value awareness assessment list and we were to rate them on a scale of 1 to 5; 5 being the most important values. Of course this was given for the purpose of cultural adaptation and how value awareness relates to understanding the values of others. For me, I was extracting a broader understanding of who I am. I had to ask myself what is important to me. What values run deep for me? My values have transformed and I suspect they will continue to change in the growing process. How I see myself has also changed. So the worksheet was interesting. We were asked to identify the top few. Mine were having intimate friendships, loyalty, respect, honesty and family. I think these resonate from my deep desire for redemptive community to journey life with. Many things like control, independence, and achievement do not hold the same value. I would like to continue to prayerfully consider these values and will share more on this idea later.
The second big lesson today was the idea of cultural differences. We looked at our own strong cultural lenses through role play, discussion and a powerful simulation taking each of us a bit out of our comfort zones. The simulation was intended to be a surprise and was set up to give you a feeling of helplessness. My own response was a sense of anticipation and internal intensity. I sensed a calm but a bit of the fight or flight concept. As the event unfolded ,to my surprise I quietly sat back and observed not understanding all that was happening and I suspended judgment trying to gather as much information as possible. My response to the unknown was not reactionary as I might have thought it would be. Interesting… Good tool to create awareness of how we respond. More later…..
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