Writing
What the Window Tells About Me
Introduction
Knowing oneself would be difficult without the consultation of the people around. The Johari window activity helps in determining and own personality better based on the feedback from the people around. There are things and personality that we are not aware we have, until someone tells us what kind of person we are and that we have such personality. What I have learned from this activity is that I can be very adaptive in different social environments because of the flexibility and adaptability I have in interacting with different kind of people I encounter. Furthermore, the responses obtained in the Johari window reveals unknown personal qualities that I know I possess, but remain hidden from the people around.
Open
What the activity taught me is that the open quadrant reveals things that I know about me and the people around me knows such as my name, age, personal interests and aspirations in life. At this point the people that have explored my Facebook page even everyone that I have interacted with factually knows who I am most likely all of my personal effects. In addition my personal interests in music, arts, and basically everything that defines my personal preferences can be easily determined because those are the information that I share openly with everyone. Those openly disclosed information is considerably the basic details that any person would learn about me. However, during the process of completing the Johari window there is a realization that the information attributed to the “open” quadrant and its size will depend on how well the people know me personally. If I choose to be very open to the people about myself, it is likely that the size of the “open” quadrant in my Johari window is bigger as compared to being less open to people during interaction.
Blind
The second quadrant to be filled in the Johari window is the “blind” window. The things attributed to this quadrant are about the personality that most people know about me that I am not aware of. These are the qualities that I have unconsciously demonstrated to other people. This includes emotional and reactive responses that were conveyed. In my “blind” quadrant I have indicated that I am not aware that I am a caring person. It is likely that I am not aware of the fact that I care for everyone through my actions and way of interacting. For example, I always ask the people around how their day was. It already became a regular attitude for me to ask people about how they are and what’s going on with their day-to-day lives. Through constant demonstration of the behavior it already became a natural instinct for me care for people in a simple way without being consciously aware. This is the same with all the characteristics indicated in the quadrant such as being knowledgeable, organized and trustworthy.
Hidden
In this quadrant there are things that I only know and does not disclose the information to other people. For example, in my “hidden” quadrant I have indicated that I am a very independent person. Such characteristic needs not to be divulged or mentioned to other people because it will eventually reflect on my actions and words. However, my being independent is something that not all people would know because basically I do things on my own for the purpose of letting myself to gain experience of taking care of my own personal business. Another example is being responsible, little that people know I am a very responsible person in terms of owning situations that I know I am involved with. There are notions about young people being feckless and very laid back. In return it creates an idea that young people are less responsible than the usual.
Unknown
This quadrant represents the things that even myself don’t know, let along the people around me. In order to determine these things there should be a through realization of myself and reflecting on the things that I have done in the past that creates the notion that the personality I have demonstrated is something that I am not aware that poses and neither the people around me. Most of the time the unknown things reveal it during situations where a realization happens before the intended thought has been discussed. For instance, I may say that I do not get along with people very well. However, during situations where I am exposed to a crowd I seldom realize that I can actually blend in or adapt easily regardless of the personalities I encountered in the crowd. It is something that I am not aware of because my perception about my social skills is different from what uncovers when I am in that situation.
Conclusion
For a person to understand their true nature, the Johari window is a very useful tool to determine one’s personality. What I have learned from the activity is that I have certain characteristics that I never thought I had until it was indicated in the quadrants. On the other hand, I also seem to neglect the fact that there are also things that I have never been able to show people. These are the positive characteristics that I believe are detrimental to create a social environment based on humility and cooperation. Interacting with different people engages me into an enlightening experience where I would be able to explore more about myself and bring out the best in me.
References
Augsburg.edu (n.d.). Johari window. Retrieved June 29, 2013, from www.augsburg.edu/education/edc210/johari.html
Businessballs.com (n.d.). johari window model - helpful for personal awareness and group relationships. Retrieved June 29, 2013, from http://www.businessballs.com/johariwindowmodel.htm
Hsi yen, D. (1999, April 26). Johari Window. Retrieved June 29, 2013, from http://www.noogenesis.com/game_theory/johari/johari_window.html#blind
