Interpersonal Skills

The 5th meeting for the TLFHD programme was held on Saturday 5th April, 2014 and Ms. Ann Marie was present to explain the weird birthday suit homework : ).

The week long birthday suit home work was about being able to really look at and analyse yourself. Identifying what you liked and disliked, and even discovered about yourself. It was also about understanding that there are somethings about yourself that you can and cannot change. There are definitely a few things that I can and want to change, for the better, about myself.

Ms. Ann Marie also examined with us the process involved in communication. She helped me in understanding that noise, which is anything that disturbs a message from being received in its truest form, could also be me : O. I also understood that the me involved in disturbing messages were amygdala hijacks and that explained a lot....wow.....: ). My poker face may have been a happy, sad, confused or sell-out blushing face....sigh.....when all I wanted was for it to be a poker face : /.

Murphy's 7 C's of effective communication were also discussed as shown below.

Communication styles such as Assertive, Aggressive, Passive Aggressive were then discussed in detail about their appropriateness in different communication situations. Assertive Communication is the preferred communication style to use as it is appropriate for most communication situations. One thing that stood out to me was that no matter what communication style is used, once emotion (mi boy amygdala starts doing his thing) steps in, assertiveness is lost and you open or expose yourself. As a result of this exposure, most times you loose and sometimes you may win. I also understood that the communication style an individual mainly uses links to their intrapersonal being.

Functioning as a professional, ethics and finding your moral compass were also discussed with Lennon and Glendora. Being a professional involves being goal-oriented and also being able to get rid of distractions that hinder the achievement of goals. The method a professional uses in obtaining goals and getting rid of distractions is very important, remembering Leekai as he kicked the bottle lmbo and Kayde as he picked up the bottle lol.

The Amygdala Hijack and Me :)

In the 3rd meeting of TLFHD Educational and Cultural Exchange Programme Ghana 2014, I shared my interest in medicine and how the body biological reactions are linked to our emotions with the presenter, Ms. Ann Marie and other participants of the programme. She then gave me an assignment to find out more about the amygdala hijack which would help me understand the link between our biological reactions and emotions.

The amygdala is an almond shaped mass of nuclei located deep within the temporal lobe and adjacent to the hippocampus as shown below:

Figure 1 – The Amygdala, Temporal lobe and Hippocampus

It plays a primary role in the formation and storage of memories associated with emotional events. Stimuli from the eyes, ears, skin etc. sends a signal immediately to the thalamus and then the amygdala before a signal is sent to the neocortex. The neocortex consists of different parts of the brain, eg. The occipital lobe, that deals with logic & analysis, rational thought, control of emotions, language and morality. The amygdala assesses the signal by recognizing the emotions and feelings it evokes. It then inhibits the “slow thinking” rational brain, resulting in an unthinkable response that is based on emotions and feelings. This inhibition of the neocortex caused by the amygdala is called amygdala hijack and it is illustrated below:

Figure 2 – The Amygdala Hijack

The amygdala notes the emotion and feelings caused by the stimuli, and the unthinkable response that resulted from them. In the future, if similar emotion and feelings are evoked, the amygdala hijacks the rational brain, producing the noted unthinkable response.The amygdala hijack can result in positive and negative outcomes as it heavily influences the following:

·         Arousal

  positive - your spouse in a secluded, public area evokes a desirable feeling of pleasure in you. The amygdala quickly hijacks any reasoning from the rational brain about the area being inappropriate and may cause you to caress your spouse in a certain way/area which then results in the fulfillment of an exciting sexual adventure.

  negative - someone other than your spouse evokes the same desirable feeling and causes you to commit adultery, create an unwanted pregnancy etc.

·         Autonomic responses associated with fear

  positive - fear from seeing a ferocious dog running towards you may result in a amygdala hijack which increases your heart rate, blood pressure and causes you to 'freeze up' or remain stationary. The dog upon seeing your response does not attack you.

  negative - fear from seeing a vehicle speeding towards you causes you to 'freeze up' and may result in you being seriously injured.

·         Emotional responses

  positive - while in a meeting, someone sitting next to you gives you a good joke which evokes a feeling of joy and causes an amygdala hijack which blocks any reasoning about you being in the meeting, and you burst out in laughter. No one in the meeting was disturbed by your laughter and you happily enjoyed laughing at the joke.

  negative - your outburst in laughter was very disturbing and it caused you to be 'kicked-out' of the meeting and/or scold about it.

·         Hormonal secretions

  positive - being prepared for an exam evokes a feeling of confidence which causes an amygdala hijack that blocks any reasoning about exercising caution when answering questions. This may then result in the release of hormones which makes you feel happy and causes you to complete the exam very quickly.

  negative - not being prepared for the exam may cause a feeling of anxiety which may then lead to the release of stress hormones that causes you to stress about one question for a long period of time.

·         Memory

  positive - while driving you may encounter a situation that you had experienced in driving school. You may feel confident as you remember the experience, which then aids your memory in remembering how to respond to the situation in the best possible way.

  negative - you encounter a stressful situation that you never had experienced before. Being stressed and unsure of how to respond may hinder your memory in remembering possible methods of handling such situations.

Bibliography

Bailey, Regina. About.com Biology. 2014. http://biology.about.com/od/anatomy/p/Amygdala.htm (accessed April 5, 2014).

Chipscholz. Scholz: Leadership Development. April 5, 2012. http://www.chipscholz.com/2012/04/05/emotional-hijacks-at-work-beware-the-tiger/ (accessed April 5, 2014).

Dr. Nadler, Relly. "What Was I Thinking?: Handling the Hijack." Psychology Today. July 2009. http://www.psychologytoday.com/files/attachments/51483/handling-the-hijack.pdf (accessed April 5, 2014).

Erich. The Art of Thinking as a Free Gift. August 26, 2012. http://freegift100.blogspot.com/2012/08/taming-your-emotions-amygdala-part-1.html (accessed April 5, 2014).

Waylon H. Lewis Enterprises. Elephant: Dedicated to Mindful Life. 2014. http://www.elephantjournal.com/2011/08/yoga-bodywork-healing-the-brain-bonus-video/amygdala-hippocampus/ (accessed April 5, 2014).

Lennon, Poverty and Development

The 4th meeting was recently conducted and the anticipated, sensational presenter Ms. Ann Marie was absent. She was missed but her absence gave Lennon the opportunity to engage in being a leader/facilitator :). Lennon invited and facilitated our Do's & Don'ts ideas for the Tobago group participants in Ghana. She then helped in explaining our ideas and lead us to agree on a general consensus. Thank you Lennon for reminding us about the things to pack for the programme, munches are a definite carry-on for me :).

The phenomenon of poverty, the different types of poverty and facts associated with poverty were also discussed with Sir Phillips. I learnt about absolute and relative poverty, social and occupational exclusion and the existence of 'lumpenproletariat' (the underclass). I also understood that most of us, if not all of us, do suffer from some type of poverty. I sometimes experience relative poverty coupled with social and occupational exclusion :(.

Mr. Daniel on the other hand, reminded us that poverty can be eradicated via development. He discussed with us the Design Thinking Approach;

• What is?
• What if?
• What wow's?
• What works?

He totally revamped my knowledge about starting and owning a business. He also mentioned a saying which stood out to me. It was, " the old way cannot be the best way." Serious food for thought :).

Being a Leader/Facilitator and Meetings

The 3rd meeting for TLFHD Educational and Cultural Exchange Programme was held on Saturday 22nd March, 2014 and although it was lengthy, it was worth the while :).

The first session of the meeting was all about being a leader/facilitator. The best leader/facilitator, as shared by the presenter Ms. Ann Marie, is someone who knows who they are. Myself and the other participants were then asked to 'find and hug a tree' for 5 minutes and I wasn't quite sure what we were suppose to learn from hugging a tree. I soon understood that it was a much needed time-out to relax our minds as we observed and basked in the things that we took for granted sometimes. It helped us in analyzing how our experiences contributed significantly to who we were. It had me thinking about how my experiences, some good, frightening and sad, would have contributed to the good and bad components of who I am. She also emphasized the importance of a leader/facilitator being able to trust others.

The second session was about meetings. The different types of meetings and the things needed to conduct a meeting. Some of the information shared by Mr. Kwesi such as how to take meeting minutes were a review and enhancement of what I had already known. Others such as the term 'Quorum', Robert's Rules of Order and parliamentary procedure for meetings were new to me. I am now able to introduce and vote on a motion like a true parliamentarian :D.

Volunteering and Ghana = Amazing Opportunity

My sister called me one night and asked me if I would be interested in participating in a volunteering project in Ghana. I told her yes and was anxiously awaiting more details from Lennon. I always wanted to do more volunteer work and was grateful for the opportunity to do so. I first volunteered at a boy's orphanage in Trinidad. The boy that I helped was 10 years old but looked like a 6 year old. He was very short, tiny and had a very....very short attention span. After he completed 1 Math question he became restless and ran off to play with the other boys and always seemed to have lost his pencil, which he looked ALL OVER the orphanage home for, before he could attempt another question. It was an enjoyable learning experience, inclusive of methods to use while helping children with a short attention span :).

Thus far, I have attended 2 meeting sessions for TLFHD Educational and Cultural Exchange Programme and obtained a better understanding of what volunteering is all about. I have also learnt a lot about Ghana and Ghanaian culture. I am very excited about this programme and I am trying to keep in mind that in Ghana my right hand is my only hand :)