Weel One:Elliott: Reflection

Week One Reflection

After watching the Words of Encouragement video on the Mobius strip I was very interested in the way that Parker J. Palmer used a strip of paper to explain life. As Palmer uses a simple piece of paper he describes how a person can be worried about their "on stage" lives and "backstage lives". One side of the paper being "on-stage" and the other side being "backstage". He talks about the differences between the two. The "on stage" life is how concerned we are with the outside world. Palmer uses ego as an example to describe how we my use our "on stage" life. To describe our " backstage life" we consider aspects such as, intuition, instinct, and values.

As he uses the piece of paper to demonstrate the inner and outer aspects of life he turns one side of the paper in to connect the paper to the other end to create the Mobius strip. This model shows hows the "on-stage" life and "backstage" life coincide with each other to create our lives. The Mobius strip really gives a great visual. 

I can relate to the Mobius strip in my lifetime when I was really young I didn't really express my "backstage" life. I was shy and did not share a lot with any friends or family.   It took me awhile to be able to express myself and how I truly wanted to live my life.Like most people, as we grow older we learn how to combine the two sides to form a Mobius strip.

After reading chapter one of the Lifesmart text I have a new understanding of lifespan development. On page 5 Fiore, states " Lifespan development refers to an examination of the biological, cognitive/psychological, and social changes that occur over the course of a human life."  I think it is really important for everyone to study lifespan development. I think learning about life and the change we all go though would help people to be more understanding of other peoples lives. 

On page 13 of the Lifesmart text, the statement, "Biological processes range from the role of genes to adult health concerns; psychological processes include all aspects of cognitive and personality development." This statement really made me relate to the group of people that I work with. I volunteer at a day program for special needs adults. Many of which have psychological/cognitive disabilities.  When we go out in public it bothers me to see how many people are ignorant to them because of their differences. I think it is important for everyone to learn about the development of life and how to interact appropriately with people that may be different from themselves.