Nicolle's Blog

My Life   I have on an amazing journey these past few weeks. Turning 40, packing to move to a new house and taking this class at the same time has led me to do a lot of reflecting. My life has been full of some pretty dark and hard times due to my own choices and it has now over the past few years been moving out of the chaos and darkness into light and peace. We have been packing so I didn't have a lot of pictures handy for the poster but I had been going through them recently had looked backed into my childhood and teenage years. I found some pictures from right before my life began its downward spiral and I struggled to remember what was hiding behind those eyes and smile in the picture. What had made me go down such roads?  I do know that everything I am today is due to the tough roads and I am grateful for God's grace and love to see me through and for my parents who have stood by me through it all. I am grateful to now be the mother my boys have needed an

Personality How wonderful and unique God has made each of us!!! People may look alike but can have different personalities. I have three boy all raised in the same environment, exposed to the same things, and all have very different personalities. It is what makes this world interesting. I am sure we would get very bored if we all were exactly alike another. Even as different as we are, Personality traits can all fall into some dimension and each dimension has a range of high , medium or low as to where the person can fall according to how they display the trait.  I took a personality test that was done by Myers-Briggs. They measure personality in sixteen different personality types. The questions compare whether you are introvert or extrovert, sensing or intuition, thinking or feeling, judging or perceiving. It was a series of questions, some of which I had to think about a minute because some behavior are so automatic I wasn't really sure how to answer. I noticed I h

DeVeLoPmEnTaL PsYcHoLoGy "I just don't understand how he can play those stupid video games all the time. People should do things my way. Why don't they ever listen and do what I tell them? I have worked since I was 14 and never hung out with friends. Hard work comes first!!" "Nicolle, do you know where I left my, um, my, um, oh goodness, I can't remember what I was looking for" "My teacher sucks!! He is terrible, he is not fair at all!! I hate his class!! I don't even know how he became a teacher!! and , no, mom trying to talk to him wont change anything. nothing EVER changes!! Its not my fault, its his!! "I'm too stupid to ever pass. The only thing I'm good at is sports. They frustrate me sooo much!! Ugh!! It's so hard to focus!! I will never be as good as my brother in school. I'm just dumb and I will never be good enough for college" "Mom, I need to pay for my SAT. My drama play is this week

Teen brain Vs. Adult Brain For this task I decided to do the teen brain vs. the adult brain. I have three teenage boys ages 17, 15, and 14 so this was of great interest to me and something I could readily apply the knowledge I had learned in preparation for the task. I asked my mom to be in video because we live with her and my dad so even though the teenagers are mine, she has first hand experience on a daily basis with them. The brain and how it works has always intrigued me and I have done a lot of informal learning through the years. Also, because of some the things I have been through in my life I have researched the different aspects and issues with the brain. S o this just confirms what I knew:  Teen brains ARE very different than adults brains!!!  Watch this video as I explain to my mom about the differences I learned about. https://youtu.be/hx_glXpVsWs My mom was very surprised at some of the things I shared with her. It helped he

H ave you ever learned the difference between sensation and perception ? Sometimes this may be something we never really consciously think about. Sensation happens before perceptions can be made. Sensations are the data with which we make a perception.  These are the five senses:  These are the areas of the brain that process the sensory information: It was amazing to watch the TED talk with Apollo Robbins and his mind blowing brain perception games. He explains how we only have so much attention space available for our brain to use. If he distracts us, this leaves us open to being tricked in another area. He describes it as if we have a guard that sits at the front of the brain. He calls his Frank. If he gets Frank to think about a certain memory then Frank is distracted and can't see him as he takes the watch of your wrist. I watched it a couple times with my son and we both tried to see what we knew was coming but still could not get our brains to see

Typing. Thinking about what I am typing. Aware of the way the keys feel and the sound they make. Listening to the sound of the rattle my son is playing with. Smelling the burgers I cooked for dinner. Tasting the water I am drinking. Talking with my older son even as I type about his day. Faint sounds of the T.V. in the background and the basketball bouncing outside from my other son. All these different things being processed at the same time. Seeing , touching , hearing , smelling , tasting. All five senses engaged in different ways but all functioning at once. All while I am breathing, seeing, my heart is beating, and my muscles are moving all which I am doing involuntarily controlled by this great command center. This and so much more are what the greatest processor known to man is capable of. So great is this processor that even the people who use it everyday cannot completely figure it out just yet. It is greater than any computer system. Greater than any other command center.

There are a few branches of psychology that seems interesting to me. Research, Forensic, Biopsychology/neuropsychology, and school psychology are all branches that peak an interest for me but I feel that I am being led to is Addictions Counseling which is a substance abuse counselor for both for youth and adults. The topics that are studied within that branch relate to addiction and substance abuse including triggers, family group and individual counseling modules. They will learn how to help a person put back the pieces their life by identifying reason for abuse in the first place. It is said to be a family disease so if willing, the counselor will help the family to become unified again. There are many ways to enter this field. Some states only require a certificate to begin working in the field but it is recommended to have at least Bachelor's and these days best to have a Master's degree in the field especially to be a counselor. A Bachelors degree you can have various jo