Facilitation

Just a quick note

And what kind of tree I would plant

On the 9th night of our trip, we shared our 'life journey' stories with each other. It was really nice to hear from everyone and to have that open atmosphere and space where everyone is encouraged to share and talk about themselves. It amazed me how much I really didn't know about a lot of the people in my group, and knowing more about their families and backgrounds really brought us a lot closer as a group, knowing the challenges that a lot of people have had to face, which made everyone a lot more admirable in my eyes. 

With regards to facilitation, I think this activity/sharing session showed me the importance of providing that space of free, open sharing and unconditional listening, for each person to have their say of their opinion without judgement, questions or interruptions from others. This session created a very safe space and made everyone feel important. I really resonated with what Wei Ping said about how she likes Dr Who because it has taught her that every individual is important because everyone is different and has a different role to play, and a different perspective to offer. 

Relating this back to my role as chairperson of the Leadership Studies Committee and as president of LA, if there's one thing that I would like to continue from GPS is the whole space of sharing and valuing everyone as important, in the various roles that they play in the LA. Earlier on during GPS, one of the reflection questions was: 

What kind of tree would you want to plant?

I know this is not literal, and by 'tree', the question really is asking for what kind of values you'd want to plant, but I would actually like to grow a Mangrove tree. All trees in all sorts of habitats are symbolic; the roots represent the base and the foundation, and show the importance of being well grounded because this forms your basis, and the whole idea of a planting a tree represents growth and development, forming flowers and fruit, branching out and connecting with other people, like how trees attract animals and insects to it, so they can survive too. 

What I like about Mangrove trees in particular is that they have the quality of being able to adapt to their environment, and how they are so unique as compared to other trees (as seen from their tall roots), while still maintaining the basic structure of a tree (the fundamental principles). I think it's such an important skill, to know how to adapt in various environments, because it shows an understanding of each different environment and the role that you play in it. The same can be said about music, which is important to me as a music student. As a vocal student, it's important to be able to be versatile in singing different genres and repertoire, and to understand how to perform each type of music in a manner that is stylistically appropriate. In terms of leadership, the skill of adapting is also important. During the school programmes during GPS, there were many times where we had to improvise new activities to adapt to a new situation (when the children did not have plastic bottles to use eg.) I'm sure this type of experience will not be my last, especially if I'm in the LA, because of planning for activities like FireworksAction and GotongRoyong, where there are bound to be surprises and unexpected events. So if there is one main thing that I've learnt from GPS, it would be spontaneity. During GPS, spontaneity came in different forms; when someone took the initiative to collect and clear the plates after meals, when one of us decided to strike up a conversation with someone from the team restorasi that we have never spoken to before, or when someone would break out into song and Febo, despite not knowing the song, would quickly figure out the chords and jam along. 

Very often we regard unexpected happenings as a pain, because well, we obviously weren't expecting it, and it wasn't in our plan of how things should be going. But I've learnt from nature that there are no straight lines in life and that our lives are not linear paths. There are twists and turns in nature, and there are dead ends and at the same time, there are also endless possibilities and numerous paths to take. Nothing is for sure in life, and you cannot predict what will happen all the time. But one thing that you can be sure about is yourself, or rather, how you deal with unexpected changes. And that's why learning how to adapt (while still remaining grounded by your roots) is so important.