Gabriela HUM
Positive Psychotherapist
International Trainer of Positive Psychotherapy
President Romanian Association of Positive Psychotherapy
A good traveler has no fixed plan, and is not intent on arriving. – Lao Tzu
Multicultural seminars and workshops are challenging and growth experiences for trainers. As a trainer I was taught communication skills: verbal, non-verbal, para-verbal, and also to be attentive to different sensations, to “feel” what is happening in the group, with people: hearing, touching, and seeing. I learnt how to interpret all the information received from the outside world – from the training room and trainees, and I was pretty sure that it would be the same in other cultures like it is in my country, but it was not true and when I realized this, my own process of learning and self discovery started.
Until 2009 my experience with other cultures was in Europe. Sometimes it was difficult to make myself understood using the same skills I used in my country, to be sensitive and perceptive to people. This pushed me to adapt and to find new ways to link myself with the groups. During my training abroad I realized that in Europe it is somehow easier because I often understood some of the words; personal and social space and limits were the same and I could use this information to establish relationships. People’s faces were similar as in my country and I could differentiate them quickly and remember their names. When I met Chinese groups the first time I realized that it would provide me with the opportunity to grow and to know myself better, in a way which I had not found anywhere else. The culture shock was huge. Nothing was like home: different faces, unfamiliar names, unrecognizable words, different non-verbal
language to name a few. It was my personal “earthquake” which gave me a lot of information about my unconscious self (see Johary window).
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