Mentoring

Mentoring is something that I have been doing my whole life. Weather it is with family, friends, or people at school. I find that mentoring is just something that I am good at because I am always able to give people great advice when they need it and also able to make sure that people are doing what is best for themselves. From grade 6-10 I was a mentor to people within my school. I used to help people with there math homework. In school this was a great way for not only me to help people, but for me to also help myself. I find that by teaching others I was able to feel more confident about my own skills and what not. When it comes to my friends I also help mentor them through their lives. I find that I am always able to help my friends when ever they have a problem. Usually I am able to tell them a way in which the problem will most likely be fixed. For example One of my friends had no idea what the wanted to do for college. So I sat down with this friend and after taking for awhile I gave him my advice and since then he has started to change his ways and now think more about his own future. In family life I use mentoring whenever I am trying to help my brother out. My brother is two years older then me, but still has no idea what he wants to do in life. I find myself mentoring him almost daily as to what I think he should do. Overall I know however that he has to choose his own path but I can always be there t give him my opinion as well.

Mediation

Mediation is one thing that I used to never do in my life. I find that in almost all times when people were have an argument that I would simply stand back and let them deal with it themselves. After reading the articles about how mediation has worked wonderfully within schools I have started to realize just how important it is in many situations. I even have started to mediate myself if there was a time in which I should do so. For example just last weekend I was hanging out with my group of friends. Two of my friends who happen to be boyfriend and girlfriend started to fight over just about the stupidest things. I found that both of them were being to stubborn to even listen to the other, so I had to intervene. I first gave them my input about how what they were arguing about was completely pointless. Then went on and told them that they simply need to talk to each other in a more calming way. After I said that I just started to let them talk it out themselves until they eventually came to some kind of an agreement. After that experience I started to realize just how much mediation can change things in this world. Hopefully some day nearby I will find that these mediation skills will come in handy once again.

Celebration and Appreciation

Celebration and Appreciation are two things in which I find make life truly enjoyable. As this quarter is coming closer and closer to ending, I find this the perfect time to write about this topic. Celebrating is something that always makes things better. That is because first off if you are celebrating something then it has to be something good. So not only did something good happen to you but you get to have a celebration about it as well. I mean what is ever better? Celebrating things always end up in having a good time and simply increasing the happiness of everyone around you. Appreciation is also a great thing in life. I feel that by appreciating what you have in life is always a good thing. If you are aware of everything that means a great deal to yourself then you should appreciate it to it's fullest and be happy that you have it. These two things go hand and hand with each other, when it comes down to both make your life better. I find that if you appreciate something a great deal that it is always best to celebrate that thing not just for yourself but for everyone so everyone can know how much the thing means to you i the first place. One example of this are holidays like mothers day. This is a day in which you are supposed to appreciate our other for all she has ever down for you. At the same time it is a great time to also celebrate this appreciation so that she truly knows how you feel.

Evaluation and Reflection

Evaluation and reflection are two things that without ever doing you most likely will never grow to be a better person. These two things are essential in order for a person to grow and see how they have done in a certain situation either good or bad. I find myself doing these two things in school for one but also simply from day to day to see how I deal with certain events. In school evaluation is important because it allows you to know just how well you have been doing on a certain paper. Evaluation should take place many times before things are turned in as your best work. Then an evaluation should also be a part of this. This would say how you yourself think you did. and most likely if you did put forth a lot of effort and work into it then the reflection most likely will show your final grade. In day to day life it is also good in order to make past mistakes better. One example of this I have is of me and my friend going on a camping trip last summer. I found that this camping trip was not as good as it could have been and by evaluating and reflecting on it we were able to see all the problems and will try to fix those problems so that the next time we do it everything will go better.

Creative Conflict

Conflict is something that I find happens just about daily in my life. Weather it is at school, with friends, or at home, I find that by taking these conflicts and turing them into creative conflict can only help the situation. I myself am the type of person who simply tries to avoid conflict. I see it as a waste of time because in most cases the conflict simply will cause more future problems. That is why I find trying to turn conflict into creative conflict is always the best. One example at school Is when I would have long in detail conversations with some of the extremly christian kids at our school. I would find that while I completely disagree with them in every way there is no reason to try and make the situation an unpleasent one. I simply go into the conversations in a way in which I will try to better understand the other person then trying to make them think my way. I find that in situation like these, people are never truly willing to change. They simply stick to their own beliefs and won't take any other beliefs into consideration at all. This type of thinking is one in which they are not really having a creative conflict. I find that I am able to go in a try and simply get something out of these heated discussions but that the christain kids only seem to ever believe nothing but there way is ever right.

Active Listening

Active Listening is one thing that for me has always been hard to do. I remember a few years ago when I could barely even listen to people at all. As the years have progressed since then however I can see where I have improved and see how being an active listener can only make everything easier to understand. Currently in school I am able to do this. I am always actively listening to teachers when ever they are talking I myself find that taking notes is not the best method for me but to instead just listen the whole time and I will get all of the information. Other then in school actively listening can make it so that when you communicate with friends and family you can better understand what they are saying and be able to engage more fully into the conversation that is taking place. One example of this is when I was talking to one of my friends about their beliefs. They just hapened to be christian and of course I did not agrre with him at all. But I found that by just listening intently to what he was saying made it so that I understood where he was comming from better and more fully.