Personal Reflection : Personal Aspects Of Family Experiences

When I consider family systems, I am reminded of a metaphor I heard while in undergraduate school about a mobile. A mobile is used to soothe an infant, normally placed above a crib or basinet. Each of its parts are in balance, when working correctly, however if one section becomes off balance the objects become out of sync. This is true with families. If each member of the family unit is doing their part, there is complete balance or homeostasis (Henson). This balance is viewed as a healthy family system. However, if one part of the unit becomes off balance, it disrupts the whole unit causing an unhealthy response with possible long term consequences. As families grow, each member plays an equally important role in the family unit. Children learn quickly the importance of relationships and adapt quickly to their environment. No one can deny the family unit is the most complex system in existence.

As I’ve studied different approaches in my master’s program and this class in particular, the theory that resonates most with who I am and my experiences is the experiential family theory. One aspect of experiential therapy that makes it a good fit for me is the idea that therapists encourage transformation through individuation and self-actualization, believing that to bring a more authentic self to the family will bring about familial health. This has been my experience in my own work. While my child might have been the identified client, as my family worked through therapy, we each had our own opportunity to grow and become healthier. As we each had our own experiences in family therapy, our familial relationships grew stronger. A second aspect that makes experiential therapy a good fit for me is that working with clients begins with a strong therapeutic alliance, and deep sense of empathy with the clients, and the therapist’s intuition (Nichols, 2013; Brubacher, 2006). This fits perfectly with how I see the world. I am a relationship person. I see the world in feeling tones and the ability to connect with

There are 7 billion individuals in this world and all of them are unique because they are different. Everyone has different opinions, traits, perspectives, morals, rules, and stories, so where do they contrive these differences? I assume they formulate their ideas from personal experiences and how they were raised by their parents. Famous writer and professor, Alice McDermott shares that “Family dynamics are true over time, across generations and different cultures.” From this, we can gather that our sense of what is right and what is wrong does not just solely come from our parents, but from generations in our families. I believe that an individual’s Moral Absolute will be quite similar to their parents. In my case, I formulate my moral absolute’s from my parents. These moral absolutes include: not to steal, not to strike a woman, and not to cheat.

This family consists of five individuals. The care givers of the family are the mother and father who have been happily married for twenty years. MS and MS have three children together, AS, MS, and CS. The oldest child is a male, nineteen years old, attending college in Staples, MN. The middle child is a female, seventeen years old, a senior in high school. The youngest child is a female, eleven years old, attending middle school. The mother has a part-time job while the father has a full time job. They recently sold their home out in the country and moved closer to town. The interview occurred mainly via phone, because of their busy schedules with the parents being the historians of the family.

By looking at my parents’ gross incomes you’d see that we are a somewhat financially stable family. Because of my parents’ incomes I do not qualify for scholarships such as the Daniels Fund and the Horatio Alger scholarship. But, what these awards don’t take into account is medical need. As you can imagine, a rare vascular malformation isn’t exactly the cheapest disorder to possess. My KTS has provided me with a lifetime of medical need which includes check-ups, possible surgeries, compression garments, etc. My parents have provided me with the best possible health care since I was a child, but unfortunately they do not have the means to help me pay for college. I’ve always known they will not be able to help me pay for college so over the

The study I have chosen to summarize is called Children’s Expressions of Positive Emotion Are Sustained by Smiling, Touching, and Playing With Parents and Siblings: A Naturalistic Observational Study of Family Life. It was written by Sunhye Bai, Rena L. Repetti, and Jacqueline B. Sperling. The purpose of the study is to study three family behaviors – mutual display of positive emotion, touch, and joint leisure-each of which surround a child’s unplanned expressions of positive emotions. It is very important to be able to express and maintain positive emotions. “Happiness, pride, joy, and other positive emotions signal and promote action, social connectedness, motivation, and cognitive flexibility” (Bai, Repetti, Sperling, 2015) Families influence and help mold the emotions and expressions during childhood. This may be done by joining each other in small moments of positive emotion (Bai, et al., 2015).

I was very impressed by the way these families worked as a team. This idea surprised me somewhat, because so often it seems that the responsibility falls on one parent or the other. All of the individuals interviewed for this article seemed to have a

this very young age Steven is automatically thinking change is bad every time his stepfather would go out Steven in his mind, knew what was going to happen they would be nervous wrecks waiting his return and there the vicious cycle starts, Steven starts school and flourishes due to the structure being built up, socialisation beginning and the same thing every day this become Stevens safe place, where he can relax without the fear of his step Father bursting in shouting and screaming. And this approach follows him through his school life enabling to have his stability support and care he is seeking.

Dr. Paul Farmer once said, “That’s when I feel most alive, when I’m helping people.” And that could not be truer for myself. I am fascinated and committed to improving the health of medically underserved regions spanning from my home within Appalachia and far beyond to international borders. Today as I write this, I triaged over 100 patients alongside nurses and medical students in the Dominican Republic; further learning what it truly means to become adaptable and use inter-disciplinary strength. Each member of our team in the Dominican Republic brought with us unique backgrounds, all of which combined to positively impact the lives of our patients in need. As an experienced EMT and emergency room medical scribe, I offered my knowledge of

This assignment seems to be the most difficult to write because it will encompass a wealth of information. The most important part of this assignment is the opportunity to reflect on the course assignments and the impact this foundational base will have for future classes. Every event in life has to start somewhere and this start sets the stage for future learning. This personal reflection of the skills that I have learned during the past eight weeks will positively impact my educational journey at Northcentral University.

Communication is the delivery of information between multiple groups, it is very necessary to have effective communications in the workplace because everything people do at work results from communication. Work efficiency and productivity is the key to success in the workplace, they can enhance the understanding between employer and employee, and high efficiency and productivity come from effective communication.

Throughout the final weeks of this course, we have been studying aspects of our culture and different cultures through topics such as class and inequality, global economy/immigration, politics and power, religion and health. One of the best ways to gain insight about any topic, the aforementioned topics in particular, as an anthropologist or just in general, is to interview someone about their own experiences and perceptions as to really learn from one another and share thoughts. I chose to interview my grandmother since I feel very close to her. During the process of interviewing, I realized that I actually do not know that much about her life before I became a part of it. For instance, I learned that she grew up very sheltered and only shopped in Damariscotta, Maine until she got her permit and was finally able to go to Rockland for the first time. My mother was also in the room when I was interviewing my grandmother, which was kind of nice because sometimes they would sit there and reminisce and tell stories, and it would actually be very insightful for me and I learned more interesting things.

”No one is ever born into Life alone. Everyone has shared the bond of family, at least at birth, and for many people it is a bond that will follow them throughout life. For many people it is the most important bond of all.”

Family has always been one of the most valuable parts of my life. My mom, dad, sister, Kate, niece, Emma, and boyfriend, Bryan, do our best to get together once a week, usually on a Sunday. This Sunday gathering was the middle of September 2014, a beautiful fall day, and the first Pittsburgh Steelers football game of the season. Bryan and I were not huge football fans, but it was the family bonding and good memories that we enjoyed. We had a spread of appetizers, homemade pasta with red sauce, and we did not forget dessert with adult beverages to follow. After the game and food, we spent some time relaxing. That was when we were all congregated to the living room for my mom and dad to discuss something with all of us. I knew instantly when

For this project, I talked to my dad because I realized there is a lot I don't know about him. We discussed many topics and I collected a lot of insight from him. He’s made me look at things in life a little differently too. We mainly talked about regrets and forgiveness but we discussed other things too. I asked him what things he could tell me about the importance of family, the value of money and his thoughts on aging. Also, his thoughts on marriage, our culture and how he feels about death. I started off by asking what some of his biggest regrets were in his life. He said he regretted not spending more time with his parents because now that they are gone there is no more time left. My dad wished that he had been more prepared for the things that life threw at him. Growing up he said he could have been a better person; not that he was a bad person but just realizing how much more he could have done. We then discussed his thoughts on forgiveness and holding grudges. He told me that he believed it is important to forgive but it’s sometimes difficult. Although it is better to forgive than to carry it with you because it only harms you in the end. It is also much easier to forgive others when they are willing to do the same. When it comes to holding grudges my dad told me it all depends on the person. With some people it may be harder to let go of a grudge than other people but that holding grudges, in the end, gets you nowhere.