Day 31 - A picture of yourself, plus some thoughts.

Well, day 31 seems completely pointless to me, but I hate the feeling of not finishing... so here it is.

A picture of me. (and Jaymeson)

And that's it! Thank you Photo Challenge for filling the last few months of my blog.

Now, I have some random thoughts for the day.

I was just sitting here talking to my roommates and I was thinking about something that I learned from my recent volunteering experiences that I think everyone should know and apply to their own lives.

Last semester, I volunteered at a mini shelter for children who are taken from their broken and/or abusive home lives to stay until they are put into foster care. I worked with the younger kids so my sole role was to play. I got to sit there for 4-8 hours every Saturday and just play with kids from ages 0-8 years old. These kids are hurting, they are struggling, and they are confused. We weren't allowed to probe them for information or answers as to why they had bruises all over their faces, but we were allowed to listen if the children had grown to trust us and had freely given us the information. The purpose of this little half way house that I volunteered in was to help and show the children what a normal lifestyle is like. Most of the kids had been forced to grow up way to fast, and we wanted them to be kids. To forget everything else, and just be kids.

Before I was able to start volunteering I went through extensive background checks and "training". Which is where the source of this blog post comes from. The most important thing that I think I learned in training was to "validate their feelings." It took me a while to figure out what exactly that meant, but when I did, it opened up my mind, and my relationships to a whole new level.

"Validate their feelings". How simple and important is that! We may not understand, or agree with the way people are feeling sometimes, but regardless, they still do feel that way. And it's important to show them that it's okay for them to have those feelings. It's so easy to say "I understand why you feel that way", or "I'm sorry you feel that way" and it makes people feel that much better and helps them open up more to take them one step closer to a resolution.

Anyways, that was just a random thought I had earlier and thought I would share. That little piece of information has definitely helped strength relationships with my family, and my friends, and with significant others.

:)